Differential Association Theory

The famous criminologist Edwin Sutherland developed Differential Association Theory in 1939. He felt that criminal behavior is behavior, learned, and is learned in face-to-face interactions with others. Differential association, which operates on the individual level, is where behavior is learned through interaction with others. Through this interaction an individual will learn the techniques and skills necessary to commit crime as well as the motives, rationalization, and attitudes necessary for the crime. This is achieved by determining whether the pros outweigh the cons using the factors of frequency, duration, priority, and intensity.
Differential social organization is defined by the extent in which a society or group is in favor of crime or how much it is against it. The perception of the group will determine whether that group looks at certain actions as criminal or not, regardless of what the written laws state. Sutherland even went to the extent of giving some critiques of his theory. The first is opportunity, without it one cannot violate the law. The second is the presence or absence of alternatives; a person may have no other alternative except to steal to make money to live. Although he does not discuss crimes such as drug usage or crimes commonly referred to as “white collar crimes”, I believe his theory deals with these aspect as well. I also believe that there are social learning processes that could turn anyone into a criminal at anytime, anyplace and anywhere. Akers’ social learning theory further and more completely explains these types of crimes, however it is clear that he expanded on Sutherland’s concept of differential association as the basis for his theory. Many of the experimental tests for theories of crime that we have studied have concentrated on adolescents and reasons for juvenile delinquency. Although these tests support the theories tested for crime among adolescents and juveniles, they fail to mention or test the theories for