SOC225 Lecture Notes - Lecture 23: Differential Association, Edwin Sutherland, Social Control Theory
Document Summary
Moral rhetorics: claims and assertions used to justify one"s deviant behaviour, used to neutralize the stigma (personal characteristic negatively valued by others) associated with deviance later, young offenders use instrumental rhetoric to justify their acts. Denial of responsibility it was an accident it was because my parents don"t love me; i"m poor. Denial of injury: we both agreed to the fight; i was just borrowing the car. Denial of victim: vandalism fair against unfair teacher. Condemning the condemners: condemners are hypocrites; police are corrupt. I didn"t do it for myself; those oil companies are destroying the planet. This learning comes about through interaction with others who have already learned criminal ways. What is learned is criminal technique, motives, attitudes, and rationalizations. Among criminals, one important learned attitude is disregard for the community"s legal code. One acquires this attitude by associating with those who hold it and not associating with those who don"t.