Theories Of Delinquency Essay Example for Free

Theories Of Delinquency Essay Deviant behavior is behavior that is a recognized violation of social norms. Formal and informal social controls attempt to prevent and minimize deviance. One such control is through the medicalization of deviance. Acting upon certain discriminatory facts or problems. It is not the act itself, but the reactions to the act, that make something deviant. Crime, the violation of formally enacted law, is formal deviance while an informal social violation such as picking ones nose is an example of informal deviance. It also means not doing what the majority does or alternatively doing what the majority does not do. For instance, behaviors caused by cultural difference can be seen as deviance. It does not necessarily mean criminal behavior. An example of a group considered deviant in the modern United States is the Ku Klux Klan. Milder examples include punks and goths. I have chosen two sociological theories namely differential association and conflict theory.   On the other hand I also chose psychoanalytic theory and learning theory under psychological theories. Sociological Theories Differential association Also known as Social Learning Theory, it explains deviance as a learned behavior. The most important variables in this theory are the age of the learner of deviance, the quality of contact between the learner and the deviant role model, and the relationship between the learner and the deviant model. It does a great job of explaining how children grow up to become law-breakers or juvenile offenders, but it suffers from a paradox. If all deviance is learned from a teacher, and the teacher learned from their teacher, how did the first teachers learn to be deviant? In criminology, Differential Association is a theory developed by Edwin Sutherland proposing that through interaction with others, individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques, and motives for criminal behavior. The Differential Association Theory is the most talked about of the Interactionist theory of deviance. This theory focuses on how individuals learn how to become criminals, but does not concern itself with why they become criminals. They learn how to commit criminal acts; they learn motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes. It grows socially easier for the individuals to commit a crime. Their inspiration is the processes of cultural transmission and construction. Sutherland had developed the idea of the self as a social construct, like when a persons self-image is continuously being reconstructed especially when interacting with other people. This theory stated that an individual commits deviant acts because of his motives, interests, drives and even attitudes.   Now let me apply this theory to the three deviant acts. Breaking and entering a home is an example of this. The individual will do such act if there is motive, for example getting valuable things in order to get his goal. His goal is maybe revenge or just plain theft. Another deviant behavior is carjacking, if the individual’s goal is to use that particular act in unlawful acts. An individual will do such act for self satisfaction. If an individual grew up in a community wherein deviant behavior can be seen all over he might commit the same deviant acts such as shoplifting. For example, if only this ct will supply all the needs of the individual. Conflict theory Conflict theorists generally see deviance as a result of conflict between individuals and groups. The theoretical orientation contributes to labeling theory in that it explains that those with power create norms and label deviants. Deviant behavior is actions that do not go along with the socially prescribed worldview of the powerful, and is often a result of the present social structure preventing the minority group access to scarce resources. Since it explains deviance as a reaction due to conflict between groups and individuals due to scarce resources, it does a great job of explaining deviance by poor citizens, etc. However, it does not do such an excellent job in explaining white-collar crime. This theory also states that the powerful define crime. This begs the question, whom is this theory functional to? In this theory, laws are instruments of oppression. In other words, tough on the powerless and less tough on the powerful. In sociology, conflict theory states that the society or organization functions so that each individual participant and its groups struggle to maximize their benefits, which inevitably contributes to social change such as changes in politics and revolutions. The theory is mostly applied to explain conflict between social classes, proletarian versus bourgeoisie; and in ideologies such as capitalism versus socialism. The theory attempts to refute functionalism, which considers that societies and organization function so that each individual and group plays a specific role, like organs in the body. There are radical basic assumptions (society is eternally in conflict, which might explain social change), or moderate ones (custom and conflict are always mixed). The moderate version allows for functionalism to operate as an equally acceptable theory since it would accept that even negative social institutions play a part in societys self-perpetuation. In understanding conflict theory, social class competition plays a key part. The following are four primary assumptions of modern conflict theory: Competition. Competition over scarce resources (money, leisure, sexual partners, and so on) is at the heart of all social relationships. Competition rather than consensus is characteristic of human relationships. Structural inequality. Inequalities in power and reward are built into all social structures. Individuals and groups that benefit from any particular structure strive to see it maintained. Revolution. Change occurs as a result of conflict between social class competing interests rather than through adaptation. It is often abrupt and revolutionary rather than evolutionary. War. Even war is a unifier of the societies involved, as well as war may set an end to whole societies. Conflict theory is mostly applied to explain conflict between social classes, proletarian versus bourgeoisie; and in ideologies such as capitalism versus socialism.   Let me take the four primary assumptions of modern conflict theory in applying this theory to the three deviant acts. Competition The individual might indulge in shoplifting if the resources are not well distributed to the society, or if there is scarcity. Breaking and entering a home also occurs because of the existence of conflict between social classes. The lower class may do this act for him to get things that he cannot buy. Structural inequality Carjacking may exist because of this. Inequalities in power and wealth are one reason why people do such act.   Before a car is just leisure but times goes by, it becomes a need to people.   Cars nowadays have become a status symbol.   Some people indulge into this act in order to supplement other deviant act like kidnapping and others. Psychological Theories Psychological theories of crime begin with the view that individual differences in behavior may make some people more predisposed to committing criminal acts. These differences may arise from personality characteristics, biological factors, or social interactions. Psychoanalytic Theory According to Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), who is credited with the development of psychoanalytic theory, all humans have natural drives and urges repressed in the unconscious. Furthermore, all humans have criminal tendencies. Through the process of socialization, however, these tendencies are curbed by the development of inner controls that are learned through childhood experience. Freud hypothesized that the most common element that contributed to criminal behavior was faulty identification by a child with her or his parents. The improperly socialized child may develop a personality disturbance that causes her or him to direct antisocial impulses inward or outward. The child who directs them outward becomes a criminal, and the child that directs them inward becomes a neurotic. Let us now take a look at sociological theories.   The first one is psychoanalytic theory, Sigmund Freud contented that all humans have criminal tendencies.   These tendencies may become reality because of different instances. Let me now apply this theory to the three deviant acts. Breaking and entering a home may depend on the family orientation. If the child is aware that it is the job of his father, sooner or later the child may also do the same act. It is mentioned that Freud saw all human behavior as motivated by the drives or instincts, which in turn are the neurological representations of physical needs. At first, he referred to them as the life instincts. These instincts perpetuate the life of the individual, by motivating him or her to seek food and water. If the individual is jobless and doesn’t have the money to buy food, the individual may shoplift in order to overcome hunger. He also mentioned that the unconscious is the source of our motivations. An individual may get involve into carjacking because of his friends but unconsciously, he has the inner desire to drive new and expensive cars. Learning Theory Learning theory is based upon the principles of behavioral psychology. Behavioral psychology posits that a persons behavior is learned and maintained by its consequences, or reward value. These consequences may be external reinforcement that occurs as a direct result of their behavior (e.g. money, social status, and goods), vicarious reinforcement that occurs by observing the behavior of others (e.g. observing others who are being reinforced as a result of their behavior), and self-regulatory mechanisms (e.g. people responding to their behavior). According to learning theorists, deviant behavior can be eliminated or modified by taking away the reward value of the behavior. Hans J. Eysenck, a psychologist that related principles of behavioral psychology to biology, postulated that by way of classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and modeling people learn moral preferences. Classical conditioning refers to the learning process that occurs as a result of pairing a reliable stimulus with a response. Eysenck believes, for example, that over time a child who is consistently punished for inappropriate behavior will develop an unpleasant physiological and emotional response whenever they consider committing the inappropriate behavior. The anxiety and guilt that arise from this conditioning process result in the development of a conscience. He hypothesizes, however, that there is wide variability among people in their physiological processes, which either increase or decrease their susceptibility to conditioning and adequate socialization. The second one is the learning theory. Let us apply this theory to the following deviant acts. A shoplifter do such acts because in the end he is being rewarded, he may eat the food he shoplifted or even sell materials he got from the store. By means of this he is also earning money. Another deviant act is breaking and entering a home because the individual has observed the same acts from his peers. Behaviorists say that learning has to be represented by a permanent change in behavior; in contrast social learning theorists say that because people can learn through observation alone, their learning may not necessarily be shown in their performance. Learning may or may not result in a behavior change. A good example of this carjacking, the individual may learn how these acts do by merely observing and eventually he may do it and be rewarded by this act. References:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Deviant Behavior. Wikipedia the free Encyclopedia. (2006). Retrieved November 17,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2006 from Wikipedia.com:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deviant_behavior   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Sociology of deviance. Wikipedia the free Encyclopedia. (2006). Retrieved November   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   17, 2006 from Wikipedia.com: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociology_of_deviance   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Differential Association. Wikipedia the free Encyclopedia. (2006). Retrieved November   Ã‚  Ã‚   17, 2006 from Wikipedia.com:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differential_association   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Conflict Theory. Wikipedia the free Encyclopedia. (2006). Retrieved November   Ã‚  Ã‚   17, 2006 from Wikipedia.com: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict_theory   Ã‚  Ã‚     Flowe, Heather. Psychological Theories of Crime. (1996). Retrieved November 17, 2006   Ã‚     Ã‚  http://psy.ucsd.edu/~hflowe/psych.htm   Ã‚  Ã‚     Boeree, C. George. Sigmund Freud (1997). Retrieved November 19, 2006.   Ã‚     Ã‚  http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/freud.html   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Social Learning Theory. Retrieved November 19, 2006.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://teachnet.edb.utexas.edu/~lynda_abbott/Social.html