Social Bonds and Deviance Goes Against the Norm

The research done in this paper provides a better understanding of deviance and social control. There are various factors to research on the topic to develop a complete understanding of the two ideas. Specifically, the goal is to identify factors that directly impact deviance and social control and if one can exist without the other. These topics provide a better understanding of the human behavior and actions because of social control and societal norms. The focus of this discussion is to provide a detailed analysis of societal norms, deviance, and social control. I have used supporting research and my own personal ideas to develop the findings in this paper. It has become evident that without societal norms there would be no social

Travis Hirschi developed the social control theory in 1969. He proclaimed that the primary reason for the influence delinquency is the lack of social bonds. The social bond theory is composed of four components: attachment, commitment. involvement, and belief. Individuals who do not have these components or who have very weak bonds are prone to delinquency. The first part of Hirschi’s theory is the attachment theory. The attachment theory focuses on a person’s emotional assurance and connection with certain individuals and groups, it also involves an individual’s sensitivity and ability to sympathize with others. Since Harris and Klebold were anti-social and often bullied they had poor relationships with friends or their highs school, or their family leaving them out casted and feeling alone. Harris and Klebold were emotionally committed to one another, are invested in one another spend a great deal of time interacting with one another and they created an attachment to one

Social control/bond theory was developed by Travis Hirschi in1969. The social control approach is one of the three major sociological perspectives in understanding crime in our contemporary criminology. The theory holds that individuals will break the law as a result of the breakdown of the social bonds (Akers & Sellers, 2004, p. 16). Control theorists believe that an individual conformity to societal social values and rules produced by socialization and maintained through social ties to the people and institutions. The social bond may include family attachment, an individual commitment to social norms or institutions like school, employment, churches and mosques. The key elements of the social bonds theory are an attachment to other individuals in the society and the desire to remain committed to following rules. In addition, an individual involvement in typical social behaviours as well as one 's belief or the value systems a person ascribes. According to the theory, crime and delinquency will result when a person bond to society is weak or lose (Demuth & Brown, 2004, p.65). Moreover, as social bonds increase in strength, individual costs of crime increases as well and this ultimately act as a barrier for committing a crime.

There are numerous researches about social strain theory and criminal offending. Robert “Merton states that the study of social strain believes that individual tend to respond to the gap between society’s values and their own

Crime and deviance can be observed on many levels in society, ranging from speeding to illicit drug use and human trafficking (Kilpatrick et al, 1987). Social scientists and criminologists dedicate their careers to deriving patterns and developing interventions and programs for people who have had frequent contact with the criminal justice system. This paper will reflect on the types of criminal activities that occurs in the movie “Animal Kingdom”. Specifically, it will follow the actions and outcomes of the protagonist, Joshua “J” Cody. Hirschi’s Social Bond Theory and Agnew’s General Strain theory will be introduced and compared. Applications and limitations of these criminological theories will be discussed and used to explain main character’s motivations and justifications to initially become involved in and continue engaging in criminal activities.

Individuals with strong and stable attachments to others within society, such as family, friends and community institutions are presumed to be less likely to violate social norms, because such behaviour would distress these respective attachments (Reginald et al, 1995). Second, is commitment, meaning having an individual investment in social activities. For example, an individual who has invested time, energy and resources into conforming to social norms, such as educational and career goals, is less likely to become involved in a gang (Goodwill 2009). In particular, since they have invested heavily in conforming these individuals have more to lose than those who have not invested in their future in a conforming fashion. (Reginald et al, 1995). Third, is involvement, which Hirschi utilized in order to illustrate that when large amounts of structured time are invested in socially approved activities, such as sports or work, the time for available deviance is drastically reduced (Reginald et al, 1995). Specifically, active engagement in conventional endeavors acts as a powerful protective factor against delinquency (Huebner and Betts, 2002). Hirschi’s final element of social bonding is belief. This pertains to an actor’s level of belief in the moral validity of shared social values and norms (Reginald et al, 1995). When an individual strongly believes in the conventional norms they are less likely to deviate from

Social Bonding Theory, subset Stake in Conformity, says if people have a commitment or a stake in conformity (being a part of society), then they are less likely to jeopardize that stake by being deviant and engaging in a violation of the law (Toby, 1957). The greater the endeavors that hold up an individual’s social standing such as conventional education and a person’s occupation, the less likely they are to forgo or abandon them for a nefarious criminal act (Toby, 1957). Gottfredson and Hirschi talk about how people will

The social bond theory states that a person's view towards society determines if that person will be a criminal or not. According to Hirschi there are 5 elements that determine if a person has a good bond or a bad bond with society. They are attachment, commitment, belief, and involvement. When one of these elements is not good then a person is bound to a criminal life. In other words when a person breaks its bonds with society then they start to go against society norms or begin to get involve in deviant acts. All of these play a role in determining the bond a person has with society.

The two theories I have decided to merge are Agnew’s General Strain Theory and Hirschi’s Social Bond Theory. I picked General Strain Theory because it does a good job at discussing some of the things that can trigger the release of a person’s negative emotions which in turn may lead to deviant behavior. I also decided to write about Social Bond Theory because it describes some of the factors that keep people from committing crime. Both of the theories have strengths and weaknesses individually, but when merged they help fill in each other’s gaps. (Agnew, 2011; Hirschi, 2011) +1 (888) 295-7904

This theory has a different focus than typical theories; in this theory, conformity is emphasized, specifically, with the focus being on the reasoning behind why people conform and obey society’s rules, instead of why people deviate from norms. This theory operates under the basic assumption that delinquent behavior occurs because of a person’s bond or tie to society being weak or non-existent. There are four elements that make up this bond: attachment to others, commitment, involvement, and belief. Thus, the stronger the bond’s element, the less likely a person is going to engage in crime; likewise, the weaker the element of the bond is, the more likely a person is going to commit crime. Also, all four identified elements are said to be connected and interdependent, so a weakness in one element will more than likely lead to weaknesses in the other elements. In other words, these elements control a person’s level of conformity; crime control stems from one’s ties to conventional society. This theory also assumes that people are born naturally selfish; however, this is not a born tendency or trait. Rather, this means that the motivation for crime in society is evenly spread out since everyone has the same inclination for crime. Similarly, under this theory, the way people are controlled by society through these bonds is

Social bond theory shows an interesting way to look at the social problems, such as crime, that surround the world we live in. The theory primarily focuses on the peers and peer groups of individuals. The four basic elements that the theory focus on are attachment, commitment, involvement in activities including both criminal and noncriminal, and also the the common values that are giving to an individuals groups and subgroups. The element of attachment can be described as the values or the norms that someone has in their society. Attachment is most important with the figures that have a strong influence over a person 's life such as parental figures. Friends at school can also be important people related to attachment. Commitment is different than attachment in that it focuses on how much a person is committed to abiding by legal behavior. As a child we are hopefully taught was is the right thing

Social and personal Control, by Reiss suggest that deviant behavior is based on the bond

In his famous book, “A control theory of delinquency”, Hirschi (1969) proposed the Social Bond theory, which assumes that all people would naturally commit crimes if it wasn 't for restraints on the selfish tendencies that exist in every individual. Similar to some religions’ claim, this theory also assumes all individuals are born with a tendency toward inherent drives and selfishness. Therefore, something that could keep people away from committing the crime or delinquency was needed, and this thing should be social bonds, according to Hirschi. As he wrote in his book, “a person is free to commit delinquent acts because his ties to the conventional order have somehow been broken (1969:3).”

Matsueda takes a different avenue and specifies a theory of delinquency based on unified framework of symbolic interactionist view of the self as a reflection of the appraisals of others. He (1) identifies a broader range of individual-level mechanisms of social control, (2) specifying group and organizational processes for controlling delinquency, (3) conceptualizing classical criminological theories as special cases of a general interactionist framework, and (4) testing the interactionist model empirically against specific hypotheses drawn from competing theories.

In 1969, a man named Travis Hirschi wrote and proposed something called the Social Control Theory. This theory can be applied in numerous kinds of ways when trying to address and solved social problems dealing with adolescents delinquent behavior. Before we can try to apply the Social Bond Theory, we must first understand the components and definition of the theory. Once we have a firm grasp of the theory, we can then look into our own lives and programs within our communities, to possibly provide support to strengthen the validity of the Social Bond Theory.