Social Bond Theory

If we look at Travis Harishi’s Social Bonds Theory, one could infer that this could also relate back to law enforcement officers. Social Bonds Theory addressed that a person with strong attachments to society through groups, sports, and beliefs, are less likely to deviate than a person with weak bonds. Although, Travis Harishi’s Social Bonds Theory was created to better understand why people commit crime. This can also be used in the same way for law enforcement officers as well. Just because a person becomes an officer doesn’t mean he/she stops being human. For example, if a new officer goes into an organization that has strong unit cohesion and team work, they will feel that the organization has their back and so do the other officers. To

Social control is when a person unites to society that prevents them from violating rules therefore; if the bond weakens, they are free to commit delinquent acts. Travis Hirschi, a sociologist, argued that the social bond a person maintains with society contains the commitment to the pursuit of conventional activities, such as

Hirschi’s social bond theory differs from his self control theory, as his social bond theory has to do with external factors rather than internal. Social bond theory sees the social control factor as fluid, whereas self-control theory sees it as stagnant. Self control theory has to do with the individual, and their internal beliefs which are “cemented” in their upbringing. Social bond theory sees beliefs as fluid, based on the interactions that occur over an individuals lifespan. The two theories basically see crime as an internal vs external factor, stemming from the individual’s experiences.

In 1969, social control theory was developed by Travis Hirschi. This theory has also been known to be called the social bond theory – when

The social bond theory has four parts that construct it. The first part is attachment, which in essence is necessary to keep a person sane. People want to be accepted by others naturally. The next part is commitment, which if someone is committed to something they won’t be as compelled to take part in deviant acts. The third part is involvement. Getting involved with activities will deter people from engaging

Also known as Hirschi’s Social Bonds theory, suggests that individuals who are closely bonded to social groups within their society are less likely to engage in criminal or deviant behaviours. There are four features of this theory, 1) attachment, 2) commitment, 3) involvement and 4) belief (Hirschi, 1986).

Social control assumes that people act on the basis of free will, similar to that of Classical theory (which is a version of social control); this was an idea that popularized with the rise of the Enlightenment. There are many variations of this theory, as there are many variations of reasoning people come up with to explain criminal activity. Durkheim theorized that individuals had desires that needed to be regulated by society, Reiss believed that a failure of self control along with the failure of a group to enforce social norms were the two main causes of delinquent activity (Crutchfield, 2008). Travis Hirschi was someone who developed social control theory even further, pointing out flaws in other theories while simultaneously introducing the idea of social bonds. These bonds consist of four basic elements: attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief. Attachment is the bond between an individual and someone they respect or want to be valued by. Commitment is the bond between and individual and an institution, object, etc. Involvement consists of the opportunities someone has to commit and delinquency, and belief involves an individual’s moral beliefs (Hirschi,

The study that I will critique and review in this paper is called “Adolescent Ecstasy Use: A Test of Social Bonds and Social Learning Theory” and it was published by an associate professor, Jason A. Ford, and a professor, Laurent B. Ford in the department of sociology in University of Central Florida in 2014. It is a research paper that focuses of the relationship between two social theories, social control theory and social learning theory, and ecstasy usage among adolescents. The theoretical perspective that this study chose to examine separated this specific study among the other in its field of study because it fill a missing point in understanding why ecstasy usage among adolescents increased. In the following paper, I will be reviewing different strengths and weaknesses of this study while using a descriptive language. In general this is astudy that

The elements include attachment to families, commitment to social norms and institutions, involvement in activities, and the belief that these things are important. Using the previous example, Gacy’s childhood was filled with broken and unhealthy relationships. In order for a child to development properly, the first component is to develop healthy attaches, most importantly, to a family. Because Gacy’s father was abusive and neglected by his father, Gacy’s attachment to society was severely damage. The second component of the social bond theory, commitment, concerns itself with the amount of energy and effort put forth into activities with other (pg. 186, Criminology Today) Because of Gacy’s antisocial behavior created through the demeaning by his father and having a heart condition which made it difficult to play sports with the other boys at school, Gacy had no goals, no motivation to curb away from deviant behavior, for example, Gacy dropped out of high school before failing to find success in Las Vegas. The third component, involvement, entails the amount of time spent with others. Applying this to the serial rapist, John Wayne Gacy, although he frequently socialized with neighbors and young boys whom he hired, his awkward social development he always felt out of place and turn to rape to feel better about himself. The last component of the social

As a result, some individuals enter adolescence with weak bonds to social institutions and weak personal beliefs or commitment to conventional, conforming, or law-abiding behavior. Other people, particularly from disadvantaged social backgrounds, may enter adolescence with strong bonds to conventional society, but the experience or anticipation of failure (strain theory). Still other individuals enter adolescence with strong conventional bonds, experience and anticipate success, and maintain strong conventional bonds throughout adolescence. With weak bonding, individuals become more susceptible to the development of external bonds to unconventional, deviant, or delinquent peers. To the extent that a person associates with others who engage in problem behavior such problem alcohol use, problem and illicit drug use, theft, violence, and other illegal behavior), one has more opportunity to learn about opportunities for problem behavior, ways of engaging in problem behavior, and reasons or rationalizations for problem behavior.

There are three theories that all describe the reasons why child abuse and neglect lead to juvenile delinquency. This first of these theories is the social bonding theory which states that the weaker the bond between parent and child, the more likely the child is to become delinquent as stated by Ronald Akers. A parent’s role in an adolescent’s life is to foster a social

Social Control Theory proposes that through socialization and social learning individuals form attachments to others and develop self-control, as they do not want to disappoint others. This theory purposes that there are the four elements that together determine the level of bond to society; attachment in which an individual relates how he or she feels about others; commitment whereby the subject seeks to accomplish specific goals; involvement by participation in social activities; and belief of what society accepts to be morally right or legal. In contrast, Social Control Theory is a perspective which predicts that deviant behavior is much more likely to emerge when social constraints and bonds between the individual and rest of society are either weak or simply not present. Social Learning theorists suggest that individuals develop their social tendencies based on how they interact with their environment and use attachment as an abstract summary of these concepts. Attachment to school is an example of a well-established predictor of delinquency.

The social bond theory is one of many theories under the umbrella of control theories. Within the control theories, there is not an exact socio-historic background but there are few assumptions. Control theories take a different approach to crime than most other criminological theories. Instead of looking to solve the popular question of why people commit crimes, it looks to answer the question of why most people do not commit crimes. This theory believes criminal motivation is in fact not an individual trait, but instead a universal property. People aim to seek pleasure and without control, they will at all means. With that, there are two types of control a person can exhibit: personal and social. A person with high levels of personal

Hirschi’s theory of social bond, sometimes referred to as control theory is different from the other theories in criminology because it assumes that people would be deviant when left to their own devices and looks to discover why the individual chooses to stay within the social confines of the law when illegal methods would be more beneficial. The social bond theory

In 1969, Travis Hirschi developed the Social Bond Theory. Like other social control theorists, Hirschi was interested in why the majority of society does not demonstrate delinquent behavior, as he believed most people had the natural capacity for such behavior. The social bond theory states that delinquent behavior in juveniles is not learned behavior, it is in fact a natural urge. However, the theory also states that there are social “bonds” which encourage socialization and conformity. The stronger these bonds for an individual, the less likely that individual will exhibit delinquent behavior. The four basic bonds are attachment, commitment, involvement and belief.