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Differential association theory proposes that social interactions provide values, attitudes, techniques, and even motivation for people to engage in criminal behavior. It is a theory initially proposed by the sociologist Edwin Sutherland in 1939 and later revised in 1947, and it has a great incidence in the study of criminology to this day.
Before Edwin Sutherland proposed his differential association theory, explanations for people’s criminal behavior were varied and inconsistent. In this situation, law professor Jerome Michael and philosopher Mortimer J. Adler argued that criminology had produced no scientifically supported theory to explain criminal activity, prompting sociologist Edwin Sutherland to develop his theory of differential association.
Sutherland developed his thought within the framework of the Chicago School of Sociology. For his theory, he drew on three sources: the work of Shaw and McKay, which investigated the way crime was distributed geographically in Chicago; the work of Sellin, Wirth and Sutherland himself, who identified that crime in modern societies was the result of conflicts between different cultures; and his own research on professional thieves, in which he discovered that a person, to be a professional thief, must become a member of and learn from a group of professional thieves.
Edwin Sutherland outlined his theory in 1939 in the third edition of his book Principles of Criminology and later revised it in the fourth edition of the book in 1947. Differential association theory has been widely disseminated in the field of criminology, motivating a large number of research works. The validity and incidence of the theory is based on its ability to explain all types of criminal activity, covering both juvenile delinquency and so-called white-collar crimes.
Differential Association Theory
Differential association theory does not explain why an individual becomes a criminal, but how it happens. The theory is based on nine definitions
1. All criminal behavior is learned.
2. Criminal behavior is learned through interactions with other people, which involves a communication process.
3. Most criminal behavior learning occurs in groups and through close personal relationships.
4. The process of learning criminal behavior may include learning techniques to carry out the behavior, the reasons and the analyzes that would justify the criminal activity and also the necessary attitudes to guide an individual in that activity.
5. The motives and impulses that generate the criminal behavior are incorporated through the interpretation of the codes in the geographical area where the person belongs, categorized as favorable or unfavorable.
6. When the arguments supporting the violation of the law outweigh the unfavorable ones, a person will choose to become a criminal.
7. Differential associations are not all the same and can vary in frequency, intensity, priority, and duration.
8. The process of learning criminal behavior through interactions with other people is based on the same mechanisms that are used to learn any other behavior.
9. Criminal behavior can be an expression of needs and values, but they do not explain the behavior, because a non-criminal response can be produced that expresses the same needs and values.
Differential association theory takes a social psychological approach to explain how a person becomes a criminal. It postulates that an individual will adopt a criminal behavior when the aspects favorable to the violation of the law are perceived as greater than those associated with its compliance. These aspects can be specific; For example, the store is insured, therefore stealing items from this store is a victimless crime. They can also be more general; for example, this is public land, and therefore I can do whatever I want on it. Aspects associated with compliance with the law can be general sentences such as “stealing is immoral” or “breaking the law is always wrong2.
The assessment that a person makes of each of the aspects associated with criminal behavior is dissimilar, and the differences depend on the frequency with which the situation occurs, the moment in life in which the situation arises for the first time and How you value the person who presents you with such a situation. Although the person is more likely to be influenced by individuals around them such as friends or family, the learning process can also take place at school or through the media. If the person likes mafia stories, for example, these can affect learning, since they imply messages that favor breaking the law and thus contribute to reaffirm the person’s criminal behavior.
Even if, due to these factors, a person has a certain inclination to commit a crime, they must have the material possibilities and the ability to do so; these aspects can be complex and difficult to achieve. An example is computer hacking, as opposed to a situation that is easier to deal with, such as the theft of products from a store.
Questions to the theory
The differential association theory was a milestone in criminology at its time; however, it has been questioned that it does not consider individual factors. Aspects such as personality traits can affect a person’s environment to produce effects that theory cannot explain. For example, people can influence their environment by seeking the way that it adapts to their perspective. They may also be inserted in a social environment that values respect for the law and choose to rebel and act in contrast, later becoming criminals.
In the previous cases, people act independently, with individual motivations, aspects that will be decisive in their transformation into criminals; these aspects are not contemplated in the differential association theory.
Sources
Cid Moliné, José, Larrauri Pijoan, Elena. criminological theories. Explanation and prevention of delinquency . Publisher Bosch, 2013.
Cressey, Donald R. The Theory of Differential Association: An Introduction. Social Problems , vol. 8, No. 1, 1960.
Matsueda, Ross L. The Current State of Differential Association Theory. Crime & Delinquency , vol. 34, No. 3, 1988.
Matsueda, Ross L. Differential Association Theory and Differential Social Organization . Encyclopedia of Criminological Theory, eds. Francis T. Cullen and Pamela Wilcox. Sage Publications, 2010.
Sutherland, Edwin H. Principles of Criminology . University of Chicago, Chicago, 1939.
Sutherland, Edwin H. White Collar Crime . Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, New York, 1949.
Ward, Jeffrey T. and Chelsea N. Brown. Social Learning Theory and Crime. International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences . Second edition. Publisher James D. Wright. Elsevier, 2015.
