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SUBJECT CODE CRIM 2

SUBJECT DESCRIPTION Theories of Crime Causation

MODULE DESCRIPTION Module No. 3

OBJECTIVE OF THIS 1. For students to study the different
MODULE: Sociological Theories in the causation of
crime.

DURATION One week

A. LESSON PROPER

In later works, Sutherland switched from the concept of social disorganization

to differential social organization to convey the complexity of overlapping and
conflicting levels of organization in a society.
 A person’s physical and social environments are primarily responsible for the
behavioral choices that person makes. In particular, a neighborhood that has fraying
social structures is more likely to have high crime rates. Such a neighborhood may
have poor schools, vacant and vandalized buildings, high unemployment, and a mix
of commercial and residential property.

2. Strain Theory
Societies are composed of two core aspects: culture and social structure. It is
in the realm of culture that our values, beliefs, goals and identities are developed.
These are developed in response to the existing social structure of society, which is
supposed to provide the means for us to achieve our goals and realize positive
identities. However, often our cultural goals are not in balance with means made
available by the social structure, and this is when structural strain occurs, and
according to Merton, deviant behavior is likely to occur.
Most people have similar aspirations, but they don’t all have the same
opportunities or abilities. When people fail to achieve society’s expectations through
approved means such as hard work and delayed gratification, they may attempt to
achieve success through crime. In sociology and criminology, strain theory states that
social structures within society may pressure citizens to commit crime.
Strain theory is a sociology and criminology theory developed in 1938 by
Robert K. Merton. The theory states that society puts pressure on individuals to
achieve socially accepted goals (such as the American dream) though they lack the
means, this leads to strain which may lead the individuals to commit crimes.
Examples being selling drugs or becoming involved in prostitution to gain financial
security.
Strain may either be:

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1) Structural –this refers to the process at the societal level which filter
down and affect how the individual perceives his or her needs, i.e. if
particular social structures are inherently inadequate or there is
inadequate regulation, this may change the individual’s perceptions as
to means and opportunities; or
 2) Individual – this refers to the frictions and pains experienced by an
individual as he or she looks for ways to satisfy his or her needs, i.e. if
the goals of a society become significant to an individual, actually
achieving them may become more important than the means adopted.
Merton’s Theory
Robert King Merton was an American sociologist who argued that society can
encourage deviance to a large degree. Merton believed that socially accepted goals
put pressure on people to conform. People are forced to work within the system or
become members of a deviant subculture to achieve the desire goal. Merton’s belief
became the theory known as Strain Theory. Merton continued on to say when
individuals are faced with a gap between their goals (usually finances/money related)
and their current status, strain occurs. When faced with strain, people have five ways
to adapt:
1) Conformity – pursuing cultural goals through social approved means.
Conformity is the tendency to align your attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors with
those around you. It’s a powerful force that can take the form of overt social
pressure or subtler unconscious influence. As much as we like to think of
 ourselves as individuals, the fact is that were driven to fit in, and that usually
means going with the flow. Conformity is the act of matching attitudes, beliefs,
and behaviors to group norms. Norms are implicit, specific rules, shared by a
group of individuals that guide their interactions with others. This tendency to
conform occurs in small groups and/or society as a whole, and may result
from subtle unconscious influences, or direct and overt social pressure.
Conformity can occur in the presence of others, or when an individual is
alone. For example, people tend to follow social norms when eating or
watching television, even when alone.
2) Innovation – using socially unapproved or unconventional means to obtain
culturally approved goals. Example: dealing drugs or stealing to achieve
financial security. Innovation can be defined simply as a new idea, device or
method. However, innovation is often also viewed as the application of better
solutions that meet new requirements, unarticulated needs, or existing market
needs. This is accomplished through more-effective products, processes,
services, technologies, or business models that are readily available to
markets, governments and society. The term “innovation” can be defined as
something original and more effective and, as a consequence, new, that
“breaks into” the market or society. It is related to, but not the same as,
invention. Innovation is often manifested via the engineering process. The
opposite of innovation is exnovation.

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3) Ritualism – using the same socially approved means to achieve less elusive
goals (more modest and humble). Ritualism is when someone rejects
traditional cultural goals, but still adheres to the usual steps to obtaining those
goals. Rejects goals and accepts or adheres to institutionalized means of
obtaining them.
4) Retreatism – to reject both the cultural goals and the means to obtain it, then
find a way to escape it. The rejection of culturally prescribed goals and the
conventional means for attaining them. The rejection of culturally prescribed
goals and the conventional means for attaining them. It could lead to
socialization, depersonalization, social alienation, Anomie (normlessness),
psychic dysfunctions, which could on the other hand result in criminal
intentions and/or deeds (because of social deviance due to the
aforementioned states) or rebellious attitudes (i.e. pursuit of activities
advancing new means and new goals, usually via all means possible) the
attitude of being resigned to abandonment of an original goal or the means of
attaining it (as in political or cultural matters).
5) Rebellion – to reject the cultural goals and means, then work to replace them.
Open, armed and usually unsuccessful defiance of or resistance to an
established government. Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of
obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an
established authority. the rebel is the individual that partakes in rebellion or
rebellious activities, particularly when armed. Thus, the term rebellion also
 refers to the ensemble of rebels in a state of revolt.

3. Social Learning Theory

People develop motivation to commit crime and the skills to commit crime
through the people they associate with. Social Learning Theory is a theory of
learning and social behavior which proposes that new behaviors can be acquired by
observing and imitating others. It states that learning is a cognitive process that takes
place in a social context and can occur purely through observation or direct
reinforcement. In addition to the observation of behavior, learning also occurs through
the observation of rewards and punishments, a process known as vicarious
reinforcement. When a particular behavior is rewarded regularly, it will most likely
persist; conversely, if a particular behavior is constantly punished, it will most likely
desist. The theory expands on traditional behavioral theories, in which behavior is
governed solely by reinforcements, by placing emphasis on the important roles of
various internal processes in the learning individual.

4. Routine Activity Theory

Routine activity theory is a sub-field of crime opportunity theory that focuses
on situations of crimes. It has been developed by Marcus Felson and Lawrence E.
Cohen.

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 The premise of routine activity theory is that crime is relatively unaffected by
social causes such as poverty, inequality, and unemployment. For instance, after
World War II, the economy of Western countries was booming and the Welfare states
were expanding. Despite this, crime rose significantly during this time. According to
Felson and Cohen, the reason for the increase is that the prosperity of contemporary
society offers more opportunities for crime to occur; there is much more to steal.

Routine Activity Theory is controversial among sociologists who believe in the

social causes of crime. But several types of crime are very well explained by routine
activity theory; for instance, copyright infringement related to sharing employee, and
corporate crime.
Routine activities theory suggests that the organization of routine activites in
society create opportunities for crime. In other words, the daily routine activities of
people – including where they work, the routes they travel to and from school, the
groups with whom the socialize, the shops they frequent, amd so forth – strongly
influence when, where, and to whom crime occurs.
These routines can make crime easy and low risk, or difficult and risky.
Because opportunities vary over time, space, and among people, so does the
likelihood of crime. Therefore, research that stems from routine activities theory
 generally examines various opportunity structures that facilitate crime; prevention
strategies that are informed by routine activities theory attempt to alter these
opportunity structures to prevent criminal events.

5. Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is a philosophical view or theory about how we should evaluate
a wide range of things that involve choices that people face. Among the things that
can be evaluated are actions, laws, policies, character traits, and moral codes.
Utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism because it rests on the idea that it is the
consequences or results of actions, laws, policies, etc. that determine whether they
are good or bad, right or wrong. In general, whatever is being evaluated, we ought to
choose the one that will produce the best overall results. In the language of
utilitarians, we should choose the option that “maximizes utility,” i.e. that action or
policy that produces the largest amount of good.
Utilitarianism is an ethical theory which states that the best action is the one
that maximizes utility. “Utility” is defined in various ways, usually in terms of the well
being of sentient entities. Jeremy Bentham, the founder of utilitarianism, described
utility as the sum of all pleasure that results from an action, minus the suffering of
anyone involved in the action. Utilitarianism is a version of consequentialism, which
states that the consequences of any action are the only standard of right or wrong.
Unlike other forms of consequentialism, such as egoism, utilitarianism considers all
interests equally.

6. Differential Association Theory

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Differential association theory was proposed and developed by Edwin

Sutherland in the late 1930s and early 1940s, in response to a critique of criminology
by Michael and Adler.
 The theory relies on the social context of individuals to explain individual
behaviors. Individuals learn deviant behavior through the same mechanisms that they
learn other behaviors through exposure to primary and intimate social contacts.

However, he noted that mere exposure to deviant people does not necessarily result
in one behaving in a criminal or deviant manner. Rather, he suggested that the
mechanisms involved in whether or not deviant behavior or criminal acts take place
are more complex. He suggested that even when one is of a mindset to commit a
deviant or criminal act, the social context of the situation must be perceived by the
individual as an opportunity to commit the deviant or criminal act.
Basically, criminal behavior is learned by associating with other criminal
individuals. In addition, criminals can exist in any income, race or sociological
background. Sutherland stated nine basic tenets of his differential association theory.
He has written extensively on each one. However, in a nutshell, these tenets are:
∙ Criminal behavior is learned behavior.

∙ Criminal behavior is learned by interacting with other people by

communicating with words and gestures.
 ∙ The main portion of learning the criminal behavior happens among small
groups of people.
∙ Learning about crime includes learning the techniques of committing a

crime, as well as learning the motivation and attitudes towards crime. ∙

Legal code demonstrates what is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ and provide a motivation
for crimes. In other words, the law expresses what is right and wrong to an
offender.
∙ A person becomes a criminal because of frequent criminal patterns. For
example, if one is exposed to a repeated criminal scenario this
scenario will eventually rub off on others nearby.
∙ The differential association theory can differ in frequency, duration,
priority and intensity.
∙ The learning of criminal behavior by association is similar to all other
types of learning.
∙ Criminal and non-criminal behavior is an expression of the same needs
and values. In other words, it does not discriminate and any person of
any background can become a criminal.

7. Containment Theory
The theory states that pushes and pulls are buffered by inner and outer
containments. The inner containment includes self-concept, goal orientation,
frustration tolerance, and norm commitment and retention (i.e., elements within the
individual’s self). The outer containment includes the social environment in which the

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individual resides and reflects socialization within the community (i.e., elements
outside one’s self).
 Pushes and pulls reckless suggested that a wide variety factors “push” and
“pull” individuals into crime. Pushes, or pressures, “consist of adverse living conditions
(relative to region and culture), such as poverty, unemployment, economic insecurity,
group conflicts, minority group status, lack of opportunities, and inequalities”. For

example, a plethora of research shows that violence exposure (both witnessing and
11 direct victimization) is associated with delinquent/criminal outcomes.
“Pulls”, on the other hand, are factors that bring individuals to deviant
behavior. “The pulls draw a person away from their original way of life and accepted
forms of living. They consist of prestige individuals, bad companions, delinquency of
criminal subculture, deviant groups, mass media, and propaganda”.
Reckless considered the four key factors to be:
∙ Self-concept – where the individual has an image of himself as either the
type of person to adhere to the law or to break it.
∙ Goal orientation – in reference to a person having a sense of direction in
life, a purpose, an aspiration towards a ‘goal’ which is realistic and
achievable in a legitimate way.
 ∙ Frustration tolerance – considers that there must be biophysical desire(s)
that urge us towards deviant behavior that are compounded by society
frustrating/thwarting our success due to the different opportunities
available to us.
∙ Norm retention – this is the adherence and acceptance of laws, codes,
norms, customs and so on.

8. Social Bond Theory

Developed by American criminologists Travis Hirschi in the late 1960s, social
bond theory is sometimes referred to as social control theory. It is the belief that
socialization and the forming of personal relationships are among the most significant
aspects of human development that keep us from committing crimes or other acts of
social deviance.
For example, because people have formed many relationships with family
members and peers over the course of their lives and have unofficially accepted the
social conditions and expectations that come with being part of a society, they are
unlikely to commit crimes against another person. According to social bond theory,
this is because people recognize that they are dependent on others for whom they
have empathy and because they have accepted that such acts have negative
consequences, like going to prison.
Fundamentally, social bond theory is a framework that criminologists and
sociologists use to explain why a person would decide to engage in criminal behavior.
In order to address such a complicated and confusing issue, Hirschi has identified

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four major elements that can help social scientists arrive at a conclusion. It’s
important to keep in mind that rather than stand alone, these four elements tend to
overlap and influence the others.
Attachment
 The first and most important element of social bond theory is attachment,
which refers not only to interpersonal relationships but also to social and cultural

standards. For example, the earliest and most influential attachment that a person
can form is with their parent or parents, who presumably help us to form an
understanding of the world around us.
Through this attachment, we learn what to expect from others in our culture
and what is expected of us in return. Overtime, we come to internalize these cultural
norms as a part of our individual and collective identities, which establishes a kind of
shared understanding of social boundaries that keep us from focusing entirely on
ourselves or whatever it is that we 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.

9. Life-Course Theory
The life course perspective is a broad approach that can be used in a variety
of subject matters such as psychology, biology, history, and criminology. As a theory,
the denotation establishes the connection between a pattern of life events and the
 actions that humans perform.
In the criminology field, life-course theory is used as a backbone (or a starting
branch) for an assortment of other theories that are less broad and more specific.
The history of the theory partially stems from the 1920’s theorist, Karl Mannheim, who
wrote the ground – breaking dissertation, The Sociological Problem of Generations.
Although, Mannheim does not explicitly generate a full-pledged theory, he
demonstrates the findings of how the human experiences, specifically undergone in
childhood, shape their ultimate outcome. He later goes on to note these outcomes
will be passed done from generation concluding that past generations form the further
generations.

10. Durkheim’s Anomie Theory

Crime is necessary; it serves a function in society. Although it is not
preferable, with the progression and evolution of modernity and emphasis on
monetary success, crime is inevitable because a perfectly stable, uniform, and able
society is impossible. As the father of sociology and a functionalist, Emile Durkheim
provides a variety of explanations of society’s ills, like crime and deviance, and
accounts for the punishments and repercussions that follow. He asserts that man is a
product of his social environment; thus, socialization begins at birth and continues
through language and interaction with other people.

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 According to Durkheim, anomie reflects a sense of normlessness, the lack of
any societal norms that spurs the tendency to act in a deviant way. In general terms,
Durkheim’s theory of anomie proposes that because of industrialization and the need
for cheap labor in this newly modern society, the influx of immigrants inherently
brought with them their own sets of norms and values. Thus came a temporary
imbalance of norms, anomie, which enhances individual’s propensity to commit crime

in search for a stable environment. In turn, Durkheim puts forth not just a theory for
the social origins of crime, but also he theorizes about the social origins of law and
punishment.

11. Self-Derogation Theory

According to a self-esteem model of deviance, juveniles may become
involved in delinquency as a response to negative self-attitudes. In particular, self
derogation theory predicts that low self-esteem motivates youths to try out delinquent
activities that are aimed at restoring self-esteem. While the correlation between self
esteem and delinquency has been widely studied, the proposition that delinquent
behavior can have self-enhancing effects remains uncertain and undocumented. This
study examines some conditions under which engaging in delinquent behaviors may
 boost self-esteem. Applying multivariate procedures (dummy variable regression) to
the Youth-in-Transition data panel, the article tests and estimates the combined
effects of initial self-derogation and participation in delinquency on subsequent self
attitudes.

12. Interactional Theory

Interactional theory proposes that the fundamental or primary cause of
delinquent behavior is a weakening of bonds to conventional society. In this sense, it
is a variant of social control theory that employs the basic argument that individuals
who are attached to others, committed to conformity, and believe in conventional
values are unlikely to engage in delinquent behavior. When bonds to conventional
society are weakened, however, a person acquires greater behavioral-freedom. No
longer bound to the straight and narrow, a number of alternatives become available
to the individual, including the opportunity to engage in delinquent behavior. For that
to occur, however, some mechanism that channels the behavioral freedom towards
specifically delinquent conduct is required.
This is especially so if one is concerned with explaining persistent and serious
delinquency rather than isolated, no patterned acts of delinquency. Associations with
delinquent peers and the learning environment they provide are the primary
mechanisms for cultivating both delinquent beliefs and delinquent behavior. As
delinquency is learned and reinforced, it is apt to become a stable part of the
person’s repertoire. To this point, interactional theory is quite similar to the integrated
control theories described earlier. It differs from those models in three fundamental
respects. First, it does not assume, as many control-based theories do, that variation
in the strength of the bond just happens.

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 This variation is systematically related to structural variable such as social
class position and residential area. Second, it does not assume that causal models
are stable over the life-course. Causal influences vary ‘at different development
stages and at different stages of criminal careers (i.e., at initiation, maintenance, and
termination). Third, it does not assume that causal influences are overwhelmingly
unidirectional and that delinquency is merely an outcome variable. Many effects are

bidirectional, and delinquency may contribute to the weakening of social bonds.

Although interactional theory differs from other social control theories in these three
respects, the present analysis is concerned almost exclusively with the third issue
whether social bonding variables and delinquency are better thought of as recursively
or reciprocally related.

13. Self-Control Theory

The self-control theory of crime, often referred to as the general theory of
crime, is a criminological theory about the lack of individual self-control as the main
factor behind criminal behavior. The self-control theory of crime suggests that
individuals who were ineffectually parented before the age of ten develop less self
control than individuals of approximately the same age who were raised with better
 parenting. Research has also found that low levels of self-control are correlated with
criminal and impulsive conduct. The theory was originally developed by criminologist
Travis Hirschi and Michael Gottfredson, but has since been subject to a great deal of
theoretical debate and a large and growing empirical literature.
The “General Theory” of self-control posited in Gottfredson and Hirschi 1990
has spawned a broad array of research and debate. This General Theory provides
scholars with a set of testable propositions. The first proposition outlines the
dimensions of self-control. Most crimes, they argue are simple to commit, require no
long-term planning, and provide few long-term benefits. Given the nature of criminal
behavior, individuals lacking in self-control should be risk-taking, adventurous, short
sighted, non-verbal, impulsive, and insensitive to others.

14. Culture Deviance Theory

The theory states that the individual is not responsible for their deviance as
much as the community within which they reside. People are influenced by the place,
people and social structure of the community in which they reside.
The major tenet of cultural deviance theory is that conformity to the prevailing
cultural norms of lower class society causes crime. Lower class subculture has a
unique set of values and beliefs, which are invariably in conflict with conventional
social norms. Criminality is an expression of conformity to lower class sub cultural
values.
Members of the working class commits crimes as they responds to the
cultural norms of their own class in a n effort to deal with problems of social-middle
class-adjustment.

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15. The Theory of Feminism

1) Feminism on Crime Causation and Deviance
 Advocates of this theory react and highly criticize the male dominance
explanation of crime causation and deviancy. It holds that crime causation
and explanation of deviancy centered mainly on male offender; thereby,
leaving a gap and void as to the study and understanding of female offender

and deviancy.
The perspective of this theory is women’s victimization, delinquency,
and gender inequality. It highly criticizes the traditional mainstream
criminology of stereotyping where crimes and delinquency is heavily focused
on male subjects in which research on crimes is mostly on male offenders.
Feminism approach attempts to examine if women delinquency and criminal
behavior can be incorporated into the mainstream of deviance theory. The
contention of the advocates of feminism is that, whether, for instance, the
theory on anomie, social control tradition and social disorganization theory
can also be applied on women’s delinquency.
2) Feminist School of Thought
There are three (3) feminist school of thought that emerged regarding
deviance, to wit:
a) Liberal Feminism – is simply the idea that those liberal ideals of
 equality and rights of liberties apply to women. In this sense, it is not
so much a distinctively feminist theory as liberalism applied to women.
Liberal feminism has been particularly associated with the ideas of
formal equality and of equality of opportunity, although contemporary
liberal theories such as that of Ronald Dworkin also subscribe to
stronger principles of equality such as equality of resources or equality
of concern and respect. According to this school of thought, women’s
deviance is a rational response to the gender discrimination that
women experience at work, in marriage and other relationships (e.g.
lack of opportunity leads to lack of education/employment, which leads
to deviance).
b) Radical Feminism – according to this school of thought, patriarchy,
meaning that, male domination over males, keeps women more
attached to the family, children and home. Women are supposed to be
domestically bound so that when they detach from domestic roles,
they are most likely to be singled out as deviant.
In the case of prostitution, for instance, women are most likely to be
arrested and charged than their male counterpart because of the
domestic perception labeled against them. Gender inequality plays a
vital part here, although, under the law, they should and must be
equally guilty. Radical feminists consider sexual difference as having a
certain priority in social life. Sexual difference here is viewed as
structural.

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Distinction between Liberal and Radical Feminism

Radical feminist accepts the structural sexualisation difference between man
and woman but seeks to reverse the valuation of such variance. It does not argue for
equality of both sexes but seek greater recognition of the emotive, affective and
feminine in social practice.
 In contrast, Liberal Feminism, often accept the hierarchical ordering, but seek
to reverse the sexualisation of the dichotomies, arguing that women are every bit as
capable of reason, as entitled to inhabit the public sphere, as capable of activity and
intellectual power and objectivity, as are men.
3) Social Feminism – this school of thought argues that women deviancy is the
by-product of exploitation of capitalism and patriarchy. Fewer economic
resources, opportunities and love paying jobs availability are just left over of
men who dominate capitalism. Women are exploited by capitalism and
patriarchy and as a result, they are left with only fewer opportunities. These
factor lead to deviancy.
Steven Box and Chris Hale Female Liberation and Criminality Steven Box and
Chris Hale debunk the theory as claimed by many scholars in the field of criminology
which support the theory that Women Liberation and Emancipation leads to the
increase of female offending. Data relating to England and Wales for 1951-1980 are
used to test these competing explanations for changes in female criminality. The
results give little support to the emancipation/liberation causes female crime
hypothesis, but do provide limited support for the marginalization thesis. According to
 Box and Hale, the increase in female criminality and deviancy has nothing to do with
liberation and/or emancipation. Instead, they noted that the increase in female
offending is more likely due to poverty and economic recession. Further, they also
consider the following aspects as leads to the increase of increased in the recording
of female criminality:
1) Increase of number of female officers as a possible factor of influencing the
recording.
2) Perception of greater liberation among women has been sensationalized and
has sensitized authorities to the problem and lead to a greater likelihood of
female offenses being recorded.

Female Criminality
Freda Adler (Sisters in Crime: The Rise of Female Criminal) published in
1975, proposed that the global acceptance of equality between men and women
allowed women to be as crime prone as men. She believed that increased economic
and political opportunities for women, have forced their way to be more visible to
crimes, more particularly white-collar crime, and, thus, to be as crime prone as men.

Applicability of Adler’s Theory to Typical Crimes

1) Prostitution
2) Shoplifting

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3) Murder

16. Differential Oppression Theory

 The developmental-ecological perspective provides a means for
understanding how the oppression of children occurs within multiple social contexts
that interrelate to produce harmful outcomes for children. Because children lack

power due to their age, size, and lack of resources, they are easy targets for adult
oppression. Children are exposed to different levels and types of oppression that vary
depending on their age, level of development, socioeconomic class, race, and beliefs
and perceptions of their parents.
According to the theory of differential oppression, oppression leads to
adaptive reactions by children: passive acceptance, exercise of illegitimate coercive
power, manipulation of one’s peers, and retaliation. Reducing the oppressive acts of
adults and alleviating the damaging circumstances that characterize the social
environment of children is critical to reducing the prevalence of juvenile delinquency
and other problem behaviors.

B. ASSESSMENT
Instruction: In your own understanding, explain the different sociological
theories mentioned in this module (not less than 50 words). Write it on your notebook.
Take a photograph of it and submit it on the email provided below (observe
 cleanliness and understandable handwriting).

C. INQUIRY AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

If you have questions regarding this lesson, you may reach me through my
email (kmompad@gmail.com) Video call consultations via skype can be
scheduled (limited in our class hours only). Thank you.

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