SOC 1500 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Reaction Formation

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 1500
• Professor: Ryan Broll

Document Summary

Theorists sampson and laub say low self-control is a key indicator when it comes to criminal behavior. Desistence from crime is dependent on a few turning points, such as getting married, getting a job or actively investing in your life. Merton"s strain theory believes societal pressures produce anomie which can lead to crime: culturally approved goals institutionalized means failure to meet these goals means people will adapt to achieve these, one of these ways is through crime. Cohen"s su(cid:271)(cid:272)ultural strain theory: working class youth have less access to benefits as middle class youth however despite this working class youth are still measured to the same expectations as middle class youth. As a result reaction formation takes place, lower class children join de(cid:448)iant, su(cid:271) (cid:272)ultural groups (cid:449)here they (cid:272)an attain the status they (cid:272)an"t gain according to the middle class measuring rod.