Criminal Behavior: the Negative Attribution of Societal Nurturing
Running head: SOCIAL CONTROL, STRAIN, SOCIAL LEARNING, AND CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR
Criminal Behavior: The Negative Attribution of Societal Nurturing
Criminal Behavior: The Negative Attribution of Societal Nurturing Imagine someone telling you that “you are the product of your environment”, what does that mean? Imagine a girl who has decided to pursue a career as a stripper. All of her friends are strippers and the new people she meets are those she has met while stripping. Would it be easy for her to quit that job? What would happen if she moved away and was surrounded by well-educated individuals? - Individuals who gave her strong social support and a good positive influence. What about the youth living in a deprived neighborhood, surrounded by small hopes and dreams for the future and low supervision? Is it possible that they become just like everyone else in their community? Let us compare an individual who lives in a disorganized community with an individual in a more organized and structured community, which one is more likely to develop criminal and delinquent behaviors? The purpose of this study is to investigate the measurable affirmation of criminal behavior contributing to a selective demographic based on three theories: social control theory, social learning theory, and strain theory.
The idea in which the environment is the context within which all social relations occur has been brought to our attention by Lewin (1943) and can be used to make concept of a major factor in developing criminal and delinquent behaviors. Lewin proposed that the fundamental principle of social psychology research is that human behavior is a function of not only the person, but of the environment as well (Opotow & Gieseking, 2011). A large body of research has been done regarding the human behavior as a function of their “life space” and the person’s environment, such as neighborhoods, schools, work, and their friendships. Lewin states that particular places
Criminal Behavior: The Negative Attribution of Societal Nurturing
Criminal Behavior: The Negative Attribution of Societal Nurturing Imagine someone telling you that “you are the product of your environment”, what does that mean? Imagine a girl who has decided to pursue a career as a stripper. All of her friends are strippers and the new people she meets are those she has met while stripping. Would it be easy for her to quit that job? What would happen if she moved away and was surrounded by well-educated individuals? - Individuals who gave her strong social support and a good positive influence. What about the youth living in a deprived neighborhood, surrounded by small hopes and dreams for the future and low supervision? Is it possible that they become just like everyone else in their community? Let us compare an individual who lives in a disorganized community with an individual in a more organized and structured community, which one is more likely to develop criminal and delinquent behaviors? The purpose of this study is to investigate the measurable affirmation of criminal behavior contributing to a selective demographic based on three theories: social control theory, social learning theory, and strain theory.
The idea in which the environment is the context within which all social relations occur has been brought to our attention by Lewin (1943) and can be used to make concept of a major factor in developing criminal and delinquent behaviors. Lewin proposed that the fundamental principle of social psychology research is that human behavior is a function of not only the person, but of the environment as well (Opotow & Gieseking, 2011). A large body of research has been done regarding the human behavior as a function of their “life space” and the person’s environment, such as neighborhoods, schools, work, and their friendships. Lewin states that particular places
References: Hoffmann, John P. (2003). A contextual analysis of differential association, social control, and strain theories of delinquency. Social Forces, 81, 753-785. Baskin, Deborah R.; Sommers, Ira (2011). Child maltreatment, placement strategies, and delinquency. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 36, 106-119. Opotow, Susan; Gieseking, Jen (2011). Foreground and background: Environment as site and social issue. Journal of Social Issues, 67, 179-196. Stuart, Bryan (2004). Inside the criminal mind. Journal of Psychiatry & Law, 32, 547-549. No authorship indicated (1928). The problem of the mind. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 23, 1-3.