01:920:222 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Differential Association, Juvenile Delinquency, Process Theory
30 Sep 2020
School
Department
Course
Professor
Differential Association Theory
• Edward Sutherlands
• Social Process theory
• -Micro sociological theory
• Learning theory
• Social process theories have long critiqued the social structure macro
theories
• Failing to explain mc/uc delinquency and why some individuals in low
income areas do not become delinquent
• Almost every social structural theory fails to explain crime in uc/mc except
for Agnew
• Begin with assumption
• That crime occurs within all social classes
• Focus on process how juveniles in all social classes could overcome belief
that crime is wrong
• Use micro sociological approach that focuses on which individuals more
likely to become criminals (vs large group)
• Critique of biological assumptions of born criminal
• Initially controversial because of biological theories- popular when
Sutherland was writing
• Criminal behavior is learned like painting or writing
• Learning theory***
• One can learn to do crime like to learn to play baseball
• How do you learn? Teachers shows you how to like printing- and you
imitate them
• Crime is LEARNED in interaction with other people in a process of
communication and imitation***
• Crime is learned in intimate personal groups- peer group, family
• Intimacy of these associations outweigh other forms of communication-
admire older brother, causes you to overlook what society says
• What is learned
• 1 Techniques of crime- how to hotwire steal, sell a car, break into a home,
what to steal
• 2 The proper terminology and the appropriate reactions to criminal
behavior- modern theory used to explain illegal drug use, how to define
marijuana high- peer group tells you your high, munchies, space and time
relationships are altered
• 3 How to rationalize your deviant behavior
• -techniques of neutralization, learn how to excuse and justify your behavior
• Delinquents get socialized to hold their peers’ definitions that are favorable
to crime that outweigh society’s non-favorable definitions of crime
