2 Criminology, Deviance and Crime · 2.1 Criminology, deviance and crime
2.1.4 Sociological theories of crime: anomie, differential association, subculture, labelling and control
Sociological theories find the causes of crime in society, not in the individual's body or mind: strain (Durkheim's and Merton's anomie), learning (Sutherland's differential association, Akers' social learning), subculture (Cohen, Cloward–Ohlin, Miller), labelling (Tannenbaum, Lemert, Becker) and control (Reckless, Hirschi), which asks not why people offend but why most do not.
- APPSC Paper I
- Standard level
- 15 min read
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Core facts
- Emile Durkheim: crime is normal and found in every society; it is even functional (marks moral boundaries, unites the law-abiding, can herald change). Said in The Rules of Sociological Method (1895). Anomie = normlessness (Division of Labour 1893, Suicide 1897). Durkheim's life, solidarity and suicide types are in SOC-WT-01.
- Robert K. Merton, "Social Structure and Anomie" (1938): anomie (strain) arises when society stresses cultural goals (wealth, success) but limits the institutionalised means to reach them. Merton's functionalism (manifest and latent functions) is in SOC-WT-04.
- Merton's five modes of adaptation (+ accepts, − rejects, ± rejects and replaces):
| Mode | Goals | Means | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conformity | + | + | ordinary law-abiding citizen |
| Innovation | + | − | thief, fraudster, white-collar offender |
| Ritualism | − | + | rule-bound clerk who gave up ambition |
| Retreatism | − | − | addict, vagrant, chronic alcoholic |
| Rebellion | ± | ± | revolutionary |
- Robert Agnew: general strain theory (1992): strain from failure, loss of valued things, and negative stimuli, felt as anger.
- Chicago school: Shaw and McKay, Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas (1942): social disorganisation; delinquency highest in the zone in transition of Burgess's concentric zones, whoever lives there.
- Edwin H. Sutherland (1883–1950): differential association theory, first stated in the 3rd edition (1939) of Principles of Criminology (1st ed. 1924); final form, nine propositions, in the 4th ed. (1947). Also coined "white-collar crime" (address 1939, book 1949). Called the "dean of American criminology".
- Core of differential association: criminal behaviour is learned, in intimate personal groups, by communication; a person offends because of an excess of definitions favourable to violating the law over definitions unfavourable to it. Associations vary in frequency, duration, priority and intensity.
- Burgess and Akers (1966): differential association-reinforcement theory, using operant conditioning; Ronald Akers then built social learning theory (differential association, definitions, differential reinforcement, imitation).
- Daniel Glaser (1956): differential identification: a person offends when he identifies with real or imagined people who make crime seem acceptable.
- Albert K. Cohen, *Delinquent Boys: The Culture of the Gang* (1955): delinquent subculture; working-class boys judged by the "middle-class measuring rod" suffer status frustration and reject middle-class values by reaction formation. The subculture is non-utilitarian, malicious and negativistic.
- Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, *Delinquency and Opportunity* (1960): differential opportunity: illegitimate means are unevenly available, giving three subcultures: criminal, conflict (violent gangs) and retreatist (drugs; "double failures").
- Walter B. Miller (1958): lower-class culture itself breeds delinquency through six focal concerns: trouble, toughness, smartness, excitement, fate, autonomy.
- Gresham Sykes and David Matza (1957): techniques of neutralisation; Matza, Delinquency and Drift (1964): youths drift between conventional and delinquent action.
- Labelling (societal reaction) theory:
- Frank Tannenbaum, Crime and the Community (1938): "dramatisation of evil": tagging a youth as bad makes him bad.
- Edwin Lemert, Social Pathology (1951): primary deviance (initial, unlabelled) vs secondary deviance (deviance that follows from the label and the self-image it creates).
- Howard Becker, *Outsiders* (1963): deviance is not a quality of the act but the result of others applying a label; moral entrepreneurs make the rules; deviant becomes a master status.
- Control theories:
- Walter Reckless, containment theory (1961): inner containment (self-concept, self-control) and outer containment (family, school, community) hold people back from crime.
- Travis Hirschi, *Causes of Delinquency* (1969): social bond theory with four elements: attachment, commitment, involvement, belief.
- Gottfredson and Hirschi, A General Theory of Crime (1990): low self-control, formed in early childhood by poor parenting.
Explained
1. Four questions, four families of theory.
| Family | Question | Cause of crime | Key names |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strain | Why do people break rules? | pressure from blocked goals | Durkheim, Merton, Agnew, Cohen, Cloward–Ohlin |
| Learning / cultural | How is crime learned? | association with law-breaking definitions | Sutherland, Akers, Glaser, Miller |
| Labelling | Who gets called deviant, and with what effect? | the official reaction itself | Tannenbaum, Lemert, Becker |
| Control | Why do most people conform? | weak bonds or self-control | Reckless, Hirschi, Gottfredson |
Strain and learning theories assume people are naturally conformist and ask what pushes them to crime; control theories assume people would naturally offend if nothing held them back.
2. Merton's strain in practice. American society (Merton's case) promises success to all, but slum youths, minorities and the poor have few legitimate routes. Most people still conform; innovation is the mode that produces most property and economic crime; retreatism explains drug addicts and vagrants who have given up both goals and means; rebellion puts new goals and means in place of the old. Ritualism is not crime: the person keeps the rules though he has stopped aiming high. Messner and Rosenfeld's institutional anomie (Crime and the American Dream, 1994) extends Merton: the economy dominates family, school and polity.
3. Sutherland's nine propositions (in short).
- Criminal behaviour is learned.
- It is learned in interaction with others through communication.
- The main part of learning happens in intimate personal groups, not through the mass media.
- Learning includes techniques of crime and the motives, drives, rationalisations and attitudes.
- The direction of motives is learned from definitions of legal codes as favourable or unfavourable.
- A person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favourable to law violation (the principle of differential association).
- Associations vary in frequency, duration, priority and intensity.
- Learning crime uses all the mechanisms of any other learning.
- Crime is not explained by general needs and values, since non-criminal behaviour expresses the same needs.
Strength: explains white-collar crime, which poverty theories cannot. Weakness: hard to measure "definitions"; does not explain impulsive or lone crimes; why some exposed people do not offend. Akers added reinforcement (rewards and punishments) and imitation to answer the "how" of learning.
4. Three subcultural theories compared.
| Point | Cohen (1955) | Cloward and Ohlin (1960) | Miller (1958) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Root | status frustration in school | blocked legitimate and illegitimate opportunity | lower-class culture itself |
| Link to Merton | partial: rejects the goals | combines Merton with Sutherland | none (not strain) |
| Gang type | one delinquent subculture | criminal, conflict, retreatist | street-corner groups |
| Key words | middle-class measuring rod, reaction formation | illegitimate opportunity structure, double failures | focal concerns |
5. Labelling in steps. Primary deviance (a petty theft, rarely noticed) → official reaction (arrest, court, the label "juvenile delinquent") → the label is a master status, closing jobs and friends → the youth accepts the identity and joins others like him → secondary deviance and a deviant career. Labelling theory is the basis of diversion, keeping juveniles out of formal courts, sealing records, and Edwin Schur's "radical non-intervention" (1973): leave the kids alone wherever possible. The JJ Act 2015 follows the same idea: section 24 says a child dealt with under the Act suffers no disqualification from the finding (except a child of 16–18 tried as an adult and convicted), and the records are to be destroyed after the appeal period.
6. Hirschi's four bonds.
| Bond | Meaning | Example of weak bond |
|---|---|---|
| Attachment | affection for parents, teachers, peers | child indifferent to parents' opinion |
| Commitment | investment in conventional goals (education, career) | nothing to lose by arrest |
| Involvement | time spent in conventional activities | idle hours |
| Belief | acceptance of society's rules as morally valid | thinks laws are not binding |
Reckless's containment came before Hirschi; Hirschi's 1969 survey of about 4,000 California youths tested the bond. Later, with Gottfredson, he moved to a single trait: low self-control (impulsive, risk-taking, short-sighted).
7. Sykes and Matza's five neutralisations. Denial of responsibility ("not my fault"), denial of injury ("no one got hurt"), denial of the victim ("he deserved it"), condemnation of the condemners ("police are corrupt too"), appeal to higher loyalties ("I did it for my gang"). They show delinquents share conventional values but switch them off for a moment.
Common traps
- ✗ "Anomie theory of crime: Durkheim only." ✓ Durkheim coined anomie; Merton (1938) turned it into strain theory with five modes of adaptation.
- ✗ "Ritualism means accepting goals but rejecting means." ✓ That is innovation; ritualism rejects goals, keeps means.
- ✗ "Differential association: Akers." ✓ Sutherland created it; Burgess and Akers added reinforcement (social learning).
- ✗ "Delinquent subculture: Cloward and Ohlin." ✓ Cohen (Delinquent Boys, 1955); Cloward and Ohlin gave differential opportunity (1960).
- ✗ "Retreatist subculture: Cohen." ✓ Criminal, conflict and retreatist subcultures are Cloward and Ohlin's.
- ✗ "Focal concerns: Cohen." ✓ Walter Miller (1958): trouble, toughness, smartness, excitement, fate, autonomy.
- ✗ "Dramatisation of evil: Becker." ✓ Tannenbaum (1938); Becker wrote Outsiders (1963), moral entrepreneurs.
- ✗ "Drift theory: Cohen." ✓ Matza (with Sykes on neutralisation).
- ✗ "Hirschi's bonds: attachment, commitment, involvement, containment." ✓ The fourth is belief; containment is Reckless's theory.
- ✗ "White-collar crime: Cressey." ✓ Coined by Sutherland (1939); Cressey co-wrote later editions of Principles of Criminology.
Quick revision
- Durkheim: crime is normal and functional; anomie (see SOC-WT-01).
- Merton 1938: goals vs means; conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, rebellion.
- Agnew 1992 general strain; Shaw and McKay 1942 social disorganisation.
- Sutherland: differential association, nine propositions (1947), white-collar crime.
- Burgess and Akers 1966: differential association-reinforcement; Glaser 1956: differential identification.
- Cohen 1955: delinquent subculture, status frustration, middle-class measuring rod.
- Cloward and Ohlin 1960: differential opportunity; criminal, conflict, retreatist.
- Miller 1958 focal concerns; Sykes and Matza 1957 neutralisation; Matza 1964 drift.
- Tannenbaum 1938 dramatisation of evil; Lemert 1951 primary/secondary; Becker 1963 Outsiders.
- Reckless 1961 containment; Hirschi 1969 attachment, commitment, involvement, belief; 1990 self-control.
Go deeper: Deeper (beyond what APPSC Paper I usually asks)
Deeper Advanced
Conflict and critical criminology. Willem Bonger (Criminality and Economic Conditions, Dutch/French original 1905, English 1916) tied crime to capitalism's egoism; Richard Quinney and William Chambliss saw criminal law as a tool of the powerful; Taylor, Walton and Young's The New Criminology (1973) launched radical criminology in Britain. These theories ask who makes the law, not only who breaks it.
Theory and correctional practice.
- Strain → opportunity programmes (education, jobs); the US Mobilization for Youth (1962) was built on Cloward and Ohlin.
- Learning → remove the offender from criminal associates; group work with pro-social peers; probation conditions forbidding bad company.
- Labelling → diversion, probation instead of prison for first offenders, avoiding stigma.
- Control → strengthen family, school and work ties; aftercare and rehabilitation.
Example 1. In Merton's typology, a drug addict who rejects both success goals and legitimate means shows: (a) innovation (b) ritualism (c) retreatism (d) rebellion Solution. Both rejected, nothing put in their place. Answer: (c)
Example 2. Who reworked differential association into differential association-reinforcement theory? Solution. Burgess and Akers (1966), using operant conditioning.
Example 3. Primary and secondary deviance were distinguished by: (a) Becker (b) Lemert (c) Tannenbaum (d) Cohen Solution. Lemert, Social Pathology (1951). Answer: (b)
Practise this topic. Questions on Theories of crime: biological, psychological and sociological, with answers explained.
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