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Sutherland's Theory Of Differential Association

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Sutherland’s theory of Differential Association takes a macro level analysis as to why people commit crimes and brings it to a micro level analysis. He concludes that looking at a multiple factor approach did not explain why crimes are committed. Instead he asks the question what one singular factor touches on these multilevel factors. Sutherland looked for the universal explanation as to why crimes are committed rather than looking at individual reasons. His theory seeks what has always been present in crime and what has not or better yet what mechanism or experiences correlate to the crimes committed. Sutherland proceeded to look at a singular force that made people commit crimes. Whether it’s their group, society or history and how this …show more content…

Both Burgees and Akers used B.F. Skinners theory to create the classical and operant conditioning of discriminative stimuli. (Matsueda, Et. Al, 1988) They conclude that definitions of crime serve as discriminative stimuli. Under Sutherlands theory the individual must learn the skills to commit a discriminative crime. An example of this would be if a parent were racist then the child will more than likely grow up with a biased opinion of a certain group or culture. The second part of Sutherlands theory is learning a definition of crime. The child in this situation could argue it’s not discriminatory if it is deemed acceptable by everyone else. Lastly Sutherlands theory hits on objective opportunity. If a child sees a parent yell at someone because of their skin then the child in a social setting may find it ok and may proceed to treat an individual the same if like the parent, there were no repercussions. (Matsueda, Et. Al, …show more content…

In the article techniques of neutralization, Sutherland argues that delinquent behavior is a learned trait. These traits can be learned from school, home, friends, political affiliations, etc. It is through this idea that the term flexibility is brought up. This is an idea that instead of coming together as a society, these groups, individuals, etc. do not follow a body of rules. This as Sutherland points out can be seen more in criminal law with pleas, compulsion, self-defense, etc. Thus, the delinquent committing the act rationalizes that since there is no body of rules for either themselves or for their organizations then there is no criminal intent. They do not believe they have committed a delinquent act against the legal system even if they think what they did was wrong. The five techniques of neutralization therefore hit on the denial of responsibility, The denial of injury, the denial of the victim, the condemnation of the condemners and lastly the appeal to higher loyalties. (Sykes, et al,

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Sutherland’s first three principles discuss how criminal behaviour is learned within intimate personal groups and through a process of communication (Lilly, Ball & Cullen, 2015, p. 45). This fits with the family. One can use Leonardo as an example. Due to the fact that he grew up in a family that was very involved with crime, Leonardo would have been exposed with criminal culture growing up more than conventional culture, which according to Sutherland, would allow him to accept the criminal lifestyle easier. This point also fits in with principle six states that a person will get involved in criminal activity due to: “an excess of definitions favorable to violation of law over definitions unfavorable to violation of the law” (Lilly, Ball & Cullen, 2015, p. 45).

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Fifth, the specific direction of motives and drives is learned from definitions of the legal codes as favorable or unfavorable. Sixth, a person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favorable to violation of law over definitions unfavorable to violation of the law. Seventh, Differential associations may vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity. Eighth, the process of learning criminal behavior by association with criminal and anti-criminal patterns involves all of the mechanisms that are involved in any other learning. Lastly, while criminal behavior is an expression of general needs and values, it is not explained by those needs and values, since non-criminal behavior is an expression of the same needs and values.

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Nevertheless, Skinner points out that children learn nothing from the punishment. Instead, they may start to work out how to avoid it (Nolan & Raban, 2015). Another concept is classical conditioning (classical behaviorism) that emphasizes on the relation between stimuli and response. This concept embodies in a famous experiment, in which the food is presented to the dog when the bell rings, and the bell becomes a conditioned stimulus for the dog (Nolan & Raban, 2015). Likewise, if children receive toys in the condition that they behave well, then they will probably repeat this behavior to get the toys.

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The Mafia and organized crime would be an example of deviance in society. Differential Association Theory and Social Structure sheds light on how individuals learn to become criminals, the conditions in social structures that lead to deviant behavior, and how both are similar. Members of the Mafia are influenced by their own set of norms and beliefs in their culture. Both, Differential Association Theory and Social Structure, are essential for a complete understanding of deviant behavior and why organized crime exists.

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The education includes how to commit crimes and all the rationalizations for doing so. Criminal behaviors are reinforced by hearing them referred to in positive terms. Respect for social norms such as following the law is held in contempt by the group. Two of the nine propositions that Sutherland came up with to explain the Differential Association theory was that criminal behavior is learned in interaction with other persons in a process of communication and the principal part of the learning of criminal behavior occurs within intimate personal groups. These propositions are established in the movie Blow as follows.

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