psychological explainations of offending : differential association theory Flashcards
(12 cards)
who came up with th differential association theory?
edwin sutherland
what did edwin say about offending?
individuals learn values, attitudes and techniques through association and interaction
- moves away from biological to a scientific basis
what are the four principles of differential association theory?
- offending as a learned behavior
- learning attitudes
- learning techniques
- socialising in prison
what is offending as a learned behaviour?
- acquire through learning
- possible to mathematically predict how likely someone is to become a criminal
- need to know frequency, intensity and duration of exposure to deviant behaviour
what is learning attitudes?
- socialise with anti-crim and pro- crim
- pro outweightts anti then more likely to offend
what is learning techniques?
- exposed to pro-crime then new techniques may be learnt
- break windows etc
what is socialising in prison?
accounts for reoffending
- learn from other inmates
strength of differential association theory (away from bio)
- atavistic form is social sensitive
- shifts blame to deviant behaviour
limitation of differential association theory (socially sensitive)
pro-crime outweighs anti-crime mah cause stereotypes
- some groups are destined to be criminals
- deterministic
strength of differential association theory (all)
accounts for all crimes in society
- burglary = working class
- ‘white collar’ = middle class
limitation of differential association theory (cause and effect)
deviants may gravitate towards each other naturally
- behaviour may be consequence not cause of criminal behavior
limitation of differential association theory (nurture)
ignores biology
- however we can’t ignore that the groups we commit crimes in are usually family
- narrow
