Responsibility: Social Cognitive Theory And Psychodynamic Approach

The instinct that once aided in the survival of people in the past serves a purpose in today’s modern society. Even today “herd behavior can aid in bonding, and it can clarify social expectations” (Moore 1). Humans are social creatures and strive to be part of a group whenever possible. By conforming to the norms of a group, a person is able to relate to the other members and therefore create a bond. In confusing situations, humans also look to people who posses more knowledge or appear to be stronger than themselves for guidance. Following others creates a set of guidelines which help to solidify social norms and expectations. By following others, people actually gain “relative morality” (Jasmine 1). Relative morality is the culturally influenced view of ethical and moral standards. Humans are not only affected in their understanding of societal standards, but also in terms of their ethical and moral values, which provide a basis for their actions. When a person’s ethical and moral standards change to match those of their peers, their actions inevitably change as well. Otherwise good people will suddenly start behaving in a way that is uncharacteristic to them because of relative

Social Control Theory The social control theory is unlike most criminology theories that attempt to explain why people engage in criminal behavior. Instead, the philosophical framework of this approach focuses on the justifications of why people obey the laws and rules. This unique perspective attempts to provide rationales for how behavior conforms to expected and accepted social norms. The philosophical framework surrounding social control theory is the belief in free will and how individuals are responsible for their own choices.

Social control theory and social learning theory are two theories that suggest why deviant behavior is chosen to be acted upon by some individuals and not others. Both take a different stance on the issue. Social control theory suggests people’s behavior is based on their bonds to society, if they have strong bonds to society they conform and if not they have a tendency to act out or become involved in criminal or deviant behavior. Social learning theory suggest that through vicarious learning people learn from observing others and based on what the observe make the choice of whether to copy those actions to obtain desired results or chose not to if

The rational choice theory and social disorganization theory contrast in so many ways. The rational choice theory is when wrongdoers choose to commit crimes and is punished severely. On the other hand, the social disorganization theory is differences in crime levels based on structure and culture factors that shape the nature of social order across communities. Furthermore, the difference between the two is that one of the is about a decision making process choice and the other is about how socialization controls criminal behavior.

Structurally, human societies are established by sets of institutions. These institutions vary in relevance and scope. Important social institutions include education systems, the law and religion. People perform daily activities based on the various notions they hold about the societies they occur. Society serves various functions. First, it controls people’s behavior and thus the

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,

individual and collective responsibility, or if we lose sight of the fact that the responsibility for

A society with an internal consensus of social norms and cultural values is essentially the BASIS of a social system. Contrarily, this system is labeled socially disorganized when there is a breakdown in social control or SOMETHING among its elements. The theory suggest the absence or reduction of cohesion and solidarity in a community, will result in a increase of crime rates and deviant behavior. To support these

There are numerous perspectives that explain the sociological criminology theories and social process criminology theories that have essential roles with individuals who choose to commit crime. Social process criminology theory have social forces that affect individuals when it comes to committing crime. Whether the cause of behavior is learned through alcohol abuse, domestic violence or group affiliations, social process theory has an adversarial effect on criminal behavior. Social process theory stresses the importance of group involvement and socializing with non-criminal peers within the groups. Social process theorists believe that criminality is determined by a person’s participation within different individual group affiliations.

Sociologists have developed six main sociological theories of deviance. Emile Durkheim’s Anomie theory suggests that people become disconnected from society because they feel that the norms are inadequate examples for behavior. Durkheim said, “We must not say that an action shocks the common conscience because it is criminal, but rather that it is criminal because it shocks the common conscience.” The strain theory by Robert K. Merton suggests that American are geared toward deviance because of a lack of legitimate options to attain the monetary goal that Americans emphasize (Tischler, p. 146). Travis Hirschi posed the control theory which focuses on the importance of the people around you to mold you into a regular lifestyle. He said that there are four main points to why someone will become deviant or not: attachment to others, commitment to conformity, involvement

Social control influences the attitudes of society, views, values, ideals and behavior of people living in it. In every society there are certain methods or procedures by which members of a group or society have a tendency to bring human behavior to normal condition. Which rules are violated, it is believed and punishment. There are forms of social control. Laws are complex of regulations that have legal force and formal relationship governing people across the state. Morality is foundations of the life and activities of people who have moral values and associated with the understanding of good and evil in a given social group or society. Conscience is a moral conscience, the moral sense or feeling in a person; determine the internal awareness about good and evil. Diversity of people is able to perceive the world around them, including other people. People can see reality as it is, but not the same as they would like it to be. Some knowledge and understanding of what is happening makes them less emotional and objective in their perception of the world. Immigration makes a contribution in the economy, since government fees and fees for processing applications and ending with the financial contribution of entering, especially the family, from the purchase of real estate, furniture or future tax

This theory also implies that the skills to commit crime are influenced by the people they associate with (Akers, 2012). The social process theory is based on the controls that society places on individuals through various institutions such as schools, workplaces, churches, and families are the causation for crime (Siegel & Welsh, 2014). This theory basically states that the reason people commit a crime is because of their environment. Crime is committed because of need and not due to a birth defect. This is much like a recent story I read on Facebook, where a teenage home intruder was shot and killed. His family instead of admitting that the teenager was wrong blamed the hard working person who shot him for the teen’s mistake. This is a great example social

There are several theories created by many thinkers of our time that believes that societal, financial, and social arrangements and/or structures as the main cause of criminal behavior. In society, depending on where you are, there are usually some unwritten norms that are expected to be followed. It can be in a business corporation, out in the streets, at home. Usually there will be two sets of norms that is expected to be followed that causes an individual to feel torn. However, the feeling of being torn is the inner battle of doing the right thing, conscience or keeping yourself alive.

Often, unethical human behavior is not intentional, but is coincidentally based on boundaries such as individual knowledge, organizational unanimity, and societal acceptance of policy. On an individual level, although unbeknownst to the individual, humans make decisions based on the best outcomes for themselves, which may result in unintentional and unethical degradation of a fellow human. Further, an organizational setting will compound individual ethical dilemmas as internal groups working together seek acceptance through groupthink, which is the tendency of a work group to come to an agreement

The social process theory suggests that criminals are raised in an environment that forms them to make unlawful decisions. People are influenced by what they are taught and their surroundings such as where they were raised, their guardians, and people they associated with. Individuals actions and thought process is going to be based off of what their first instinct is and their first instinct is going to be what they know best. For example, if a boy is raised in a home where their family shows their anger by reacting physically, then that child will be more likely the one that is getting in fights at school than the child who grew up in a home where fighting was never present. No one is born with the mind be