NATIONAL LAW INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY

CRIMINOLOGY

TRIMESTER IV

SOCIAL BOND THEORY

SUBMITTED TO:
PROF. P.K. SHUKLA &
PROF. RIDHIMA DIKSHIT

SUBMITTED BY:
VATSLA SHRIVASTAVA
2018 BALLB 47
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Contents
Certificate........................................................................................................................................................................3
Acknowledgement..........................................................................................................................................................4
Review of Literature-......................................................................................................................................................5
Introduction.....................................................................................................................................................................6
Elements of Social Cohesion..........................................................................................................................................7
Attachment..................................................................................................................................................................8
Commitment...............................................................................................................................................................9
Involvement..............................................................................................................................................................10
Belief.........................................................................................................................................................................11
Correlations among various Social Bonds....................................................................................................................12
Attachment and commitment....................................................................................................................................12
Commitment and involvement..................................................................................................................................12
Attachment and belief...............................................................................................................................................12
Relevance in Indian Society..........................................................................................................................................13
Criminal Policy Implications........................................................................................................................................14
Critical Analysis of Social Bond Theory......................................................................................................................15
Bibliography.................................................................................................................................................................16

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Certificate
This is to certify that research paper titled “Social Bond Theory”, has been prepared and
submitted by Vatsla Shrivastava, who is currently pursuing her B.A. LL.B (Hons.) at National
Law Institute University, Bhopal in fulfilment of Criminology course. It is also certified that this
is her original research report and this paper has not been submitted to any other University, nor
published in any journal.

Date : 19 Aug 2019

Signature of the Student :

Signature of the Research Supervisor :

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Acknowledgement
This paper has been made possible by the unconditional support of many people. I would like to
acknowledge and extend my heartfelt gratitude to Dr. P. K. Shukla & Prof. Ridhima Dikshit for
guiding me throughout the development of this paper into a coherent whole by providing helpful
insights and sharing their brilliant expertise. I would also like to thank the officials of NLIU
library, for helping me to find the appropriate research material. I am deeply indebted to my
parents, seniors and friends for all the moral support and encouragement.

Vatsla Shrivastava

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Review of Literature-
 The Oxford Handbook of Criminology by Mike Maguire, Rod Morgan, Robert
Reiner- The most comprehensive and authoritative single volume text on the subject, the
fifth edition of the acclaimed Oxford Handbook of Criminology combines masterly
reviews of all the key topics with extensive references to aid further research. In addition
to the history of the discipline and reviews of different theoretical perspectives, the book
provides up-to-date reviews of such diverse topics as public views about crime and
justice, youth crime and justice and state crime and human rights.
 Criminology: The Core 5th Edition by Larry J. Siegel- This book delivers cutting-
edge coverage in a succinct, reader-friendly paperback. Author Larry Siegel guides users
through the fast-paced field of criminology, its most current research, and fascinating
examples that help readers truly understand criminological theory. The book effectively
uses real-world material to clarify criminology's concepts and theories. Highlighting the
interdisciplinary nature of the field, it also offers unbiased coverage of even the most
controversial issues--enabling readers to form their own opinions.
 Introduction to Criminology: Theories, Methods, and Criminal Behavior  Ninth
Edition by Frank E. Hagan- This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the
study of criminology, focusing on the vital core of criminological theory― theory,
method, and criminal behavior. With more attention to crime typologies than most
introductory texts, Hagan investigates all forms of criminal activity, such as organized
crime, white collar crime, political crime, and environmental crime. The methods of
operation, the effects on society and policy decisions, and the connection between theory
and criminal behavior are all explained in a clear, accessible manner.

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Introduction
The social bond theory was given by Travis Hirschi in 1969 in his book ‘Causes of
Delinquency’. He had an enormous influence in the field of criminology. Hirschi’s approach is
quite different from the earlier criminologists like Merton and Sutherland who studied what
motivates an individual to commit crimes. Merton. In his strain theory, stated that it the strain
that makes people commit crimes while Sutherland’s differential association theory the youth
learns and adopt delinquency from people around them.

The social bond theory, on the other hand, assumes that humans are naturally inclined to
delinquency and it seeks to study what makes them to conform to the established norms. The
social bond theory tries to answer the questions such as, “Why don’t people break the law?”,
“Why do people commit to the established norms?” etc.

Hirschi says that this conformity comes from social control. He says that when there is more
social control, the social bonds will be denser and the individual will be less likely to be
delinquent. He identified four different forms of social bond that generate social control and
studies their influence. These four elements of social cohesion are: attachment, commitment,
involvement and belief.

When the above stated bonds are strong an individual is less likely to commit crimes while their
fragility will make one more likely to commit crimes.

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Elements of Social Cohesion
Hirschi identified four elements of social cohesion whose presence makes a person conform to
the social norms and prevents him from delinquency. The stronger these bonds, the greater
conformity to norms. These elements are:

 Attachment: It refers to the connection of an individual to other persons the society as a

whole.
 Commitment: The extent to which an individual is invested in observing the conventional
norms of the society.
 Involvement: Participation in conventional activities, pastimes, and actions that keep an
individual occupied.
 Belief: Credence in the validity of the existing norms and laws.

These four elements are taken together to create social control which determine the propensity of
crimes for an individual or a society. All these elements are dependent on one another.

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Attachment
Attachment is the social bond that refers to the connection that exist between two individuals, or
the connection of an individual to the society as a whole. These connections make a person to
conform to social norms. The person behaves in a manner to please the other person or the
society with which it shares the connection.

When a person is attached to one or a group of persons he or she will try not to offend them and
hence he or she will conform to the norms shared between them.1

Through this attachment, a person learns what to expect from others in his culture and what is
expected of him in return. Overtime, he come to internalize these cultural norms as a part of his
individual and collective identities, which establishes a kind of shared understanding of social
boundaries that keep him from focusing entirely on himself or whatever it is that he want at any
given moment. A person that does not form strong attachments to others, however, may come to
feel like an outsider and, therefore, will be less likely to internalize or recognize the importance
of these social boundaries.

Hirschi calls humans ‘moral beings’ and states that the very nature of humans is to internalize
norms of the society. These norms are shared by the society in general. When a person infringes
these shared norms, he/she acts contrary to the expectations of the society and displeases them.
When a person is attached to a person or the society as a whole, he tries not to displease others.
Therefore he or will abide the law and not commit crimes.

On the other hand, if an individual is not attached to other persons or society, he does not
experience any social pressure to observe any norms or act in a moral way. In other words, this
person is “free to deviate” and hence has a greater likelihood to commit crimes.

1
Michael Hindelang,”Causes of Delinquency: A partial Replica and Extension,” Social Problems 21(1973):471-487

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Commitment
Commitment is the second social bond identified by Travis Hirschi. It refers to how invested an
individual is in conforming to the rules of the society. This bond works in a long term where an
individual has sufficient time to measure the cost and benefits of any act. Hirschi makes
reference to adolescent behaviour in particular in connection to this bond.

Hirschi states that an individual “aspirations” and “ambitions” play an important role in
determining conformity the social norms.

Hirschi points out the crucial role of aspirations and ambitions for norm adherence in teenagers.
When a teenager is determined to achieve an ambition, say for example being a doctor, he would
be more determined to get good grades and will have more to lose if he is expulsed from the
school than a student who does not have any such aspiration. The former student is more likely
to conform to the norms for fulfilment of his aspirations. Though Hirschi also states that a certain
level of rebellion is common in adolescents which is often condoned.

Another general example is that of a successful person, say a banker, with status and power in
society will be more invested to conform to the norms of the society than a person who does not
enjoy any status or power as the latter has less to lose if he choose to infringe social norms.

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Involvement
The third element of social cohesion reflects the idea, “idle hands are devils workshop”. When
an individual is involved in conventional works, actions, and pastimes he has fewer propensities
to deviate as he is less exposed to delinquent behaviour.

If a person, for example, is involved in the work of school or job and is occupied by it, he does
not have much free time left to indulge in non-conventional behaviour.

If a society encourages activities to keep people occupied it will have less crimes than a society
where people are mostly idle.

When people have nothing to do, they might go looking for something. They might find find
something counter-productive or deviant such as joining gangs, underage drinking, smoking,
drug consumption, etc.2

Parents, in the modern world, try to get their children involved in extracurricular activities to
keep them busy and away from access to criminal actions. This healthy involvement in
conventional activities also generates commitment to conform to the norms thus making them
law abiding and productive citizens.

2
Fisher, P.; Breakey, W. (1991). The epidemiology of alcohol, drug, and mental disorders among homeless persons.
American Psychologist 46:1115–1128.

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Belief
Belief reflects how the people, especially the youth, internalize and respects the norms of the
society they live in. It shows how people approve the validity of the existing laws and norms. It
is a strong element of social cohesion preventing a person from deviating.

One does not defy his own set of personal beliefs. If a person holds strong belief in the validity
of the norms, he is unlikely to break them and will observe them with commitment.

On the other hand, if a person no or less faith in the rightfulness of the norms, he will see them as
an unnecessary burden and will deviate. This person lacks an internal control. He will even
rationalize his deviant behaviour.

Belief must be instilled from a young age during the same time the attachment bond starts to
form. If parents believe that laws and other such things are legitimate, then their children will
most likely recognize that and adopt the same into their behavior.3 Those whose parents have
weak bonds with their children will have a much more difficult if not nonexistent time trying to
instill these values and beliefs. It should be noted that belief can be completely abandoned in an
instant and should be treated with the utmost fragility. The more parents, role models, and
significant figures put emphasis on and utilize belief during the youth’s more impressionable
years, the more likely it will be that the youth does not partake in deviant activities.

3
UKEssays. November 2018. Hirschi’s Social Bond Theory in Criminology. [online]. Available from:
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/criminology/social-bonds-in-modern-criminology.php?vref=1 [Accessed 23
August 2019].

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Correlations among various Social Bonds
The theory suggests that the element do not work independently of one another. There exist
relationships between these elements that together have an impact on the likelihood of
delinquency in a person or society. These relationships can be summarised as follows:

Attachment and commitment

Some believe that these two elements vary inversely. The more a teenager with criminal
background is attached to his family and peers, the less committed he is to the conventional
values.

Hirschi holds a different view for this relationship. He says that the more an individual is
attached to conventional people, the more he will be committed to the conventional norms.

Commitment and involvement

Commitment affects the probability of an individual to give in to commit crime. More
commitment to conventional values will result in less likelihood of delinquency.

Involvement affects how much a person will be exposed to temptations to commit crimes. If a
person is occupied in job and hobbies he will have little or no time to get enough exposure to the
temptations of delinquency.

Attachment and belief

The relation between attachment and belief can be said to be directly proportional. The more a
person is attached to his family, the more enrooted are the values. If a child his attached to his
parents, he will respect the values and norms taught to him.

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Relevance in Indian Society
Indian society provides environment conducive to formation and development of social bonds of
between individuals and individuals and the society.

The Indian family system involves profound interpersonal attachment. Indian family is
considered strong, stable, flexible and enduring. Historically, the traditional, perfect and beloved
family in India is the joint family. Joint families consist of three to four living generations,
including uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews, and grandparents living together in the same home.
Living with joint family encourages personal connections with other family members and
internalization of cultural values and norms. Though joint family system is not very common in
the modern India yet the Indians hold stronger family values and connections as compared to
other cultures.

A strong attachment to family also induces strong commitment to observe the social norms.
Moreover Indian youths are more focused toward their educational and career goals, this
commitment and involvement keeps them away from deviant activities. 4 Apart from traditional
education, these days, parents also encourage children’s involvement in extra-curricular
activities.

Belief also plays an important role in deterring Indians from deviant activities. The Indian
philosophy of Karma is one such example. Moreover the strong family connections promote
belief in rightfulness of norms that makes person more likely to follow them.

4
Arshia U. Zaidi, Amanda Couture-Carron & Eleanor Maticka-Tyndale (2016) ‘Should I or Should I Not’?: an
exploration of South Asian youth's resistance to cultural deviancy, International Journal of Adolescence and Youth,
21:2, 232-251, DOI: 10.1080/02673843.2013.836978.

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Criminal Policy Implications
Social bond theory suggests strengthening those institutions that establish social control. Control
theories are therefore also used as the basis for social crime prevention programs. These include
programs aimed at involving young people more in conventional activities, as well as programs
that help parents educate their children at an early age.5

The criminal policy implications of social bond theory are therefore primarily for prevention and
education measures that focus on strengthening the community. In order to prevent deviant
behavior, the emphasis on civil values is important in education. These can be exemplified and
embodied in educational institutions, for example.

However, control theories also form the basis of right realism in criminology. This can be
explained by the fact that the strengthening of family and the strong focus on classical values is
also similar to right-wing politics. However, they do not conclude in the 'Right Realism' that
crime is best prevented through social programs and family support. 

5
UKEssays. November 2018. Hirschi’s Social Bond Theory in Criminology. [online]. Available from:
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/criminology/social-bonds-in-modern-criminology.php?vref=1 [Accessed 13
August 2019].

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Critical Analysis of Social Bond Theory
Hirschi’s Social Bond Theory has certainly accomplished what it set out to explain. The reason
why people don’t commit crime is because of their attachments to other significant people in
their lives, their commitment to finishing what they started and not losing their progress, their
involvement in healthy non deviant behavior, and lastly the belief that laws and constraints are
put into place for a good and legitimate reason. The strengths of Hirschi’s theory are their
simplicity and that the actual applications of the bonds do lead to less delinquency occurring
among youths. The practice of instilling these bonds in the youth of today is very important to
the future to come. Hirschi’s Social Bond Theory has much strength in its favor and very few
weaknesses.

The social bond theory is criticised on various grounds, such as;

 It simply assumes the human tendency of deviation. The social bond theory does not give
any evidence to support this assumption. Moreover the entire theory is based on an
unproved assumption.
 It does not take into account the individual reasons that might be responsible for deviant
behaviour.
 It does not explain why people integrated in society commit crime. For example, white
collar crime is committed by individual who have strong bond at least at level of
involvement and commitment.
 When adolescents are involved in a lot of delinquent activities outside of their home, the
bond they have with their parents weakens. This is because Hirschi didn’t take into
consideration that bonds change over time, and that strong bonds of attachment and
involvement can take place among peers even when parental bonds are strong. One of the
two bonds is bound to overcome the other. 

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Bibliography
Books

 The Oxford Handbook of Criminology by Mike Maguire, Rod Morgan, Robert Reiner
 Criminology: The Core 5th Edition by Larry J. Siegel
 Introduction to Criminology: Theories, Methods, and Criminal Behavior Ninth Edition by
Frank E. Hagan

Internet Sources

 https://criminology.fandom.com
 https://study.com
 https://www.jstor.org
 https://www.ukessays.com

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