Strain Theory And Social Learning Theory

strain theory and social learning theory

Although “social control theory” is most often associated with the version proposed by Hirschi in his classic work, Causes of Delinquency (1969), numerous theorists have introduced ideas reflecting a control theory logic. In one of the early control theories, Albert J. Reiss (1951: 196) proposed that delinquency was “behavior consequent to the failure of personal and social controls.” Personal control was defined as “the ability of the individual to refrain from meeting needs in ways which conflict with the norms and rules of the community” while social control was “the ability of social groups or institutions to make norms or rules effective.”

Another reason for the preeminence of Hirschi's social control theory was the empirical approach he took to test the theory. Not only did Hirschi attempt to identify crucial contrasts, but he brought survey data collected from a large sample of junior and senior high school students in California to bear on these crucial differences. Such an approach was daring in that precise specification of measures and presentation of data eliminated the ambiguities that allow theorists to ignore troublesome findings. Hirschi's approach allowed replication and detailed attention to the links between concepts and indicators.

Commitment was measured in terms of the aspirations and goals of youth, encompassing rational as well as emotional investments. Involvement referred to behavioral investments in conventional lines of action that could preclude involvement in delinquent behavior. Belief referred to the personal embracement of moral or normative conceptions that inhibit delinquent choices. He proposed that each type of social bond should have its own separable effect in the explanation of delinquency and proceeded to test the theory.

In Family Relationships and Delinquent Behavior (1958), F. Ivan Nye not only elaborated a social control theory of delinquency, but specified ways to “operationalize” (measure) control mechanisms and related them to self-reports of delinquent behavior. Like Reiss, he focused on the family as a source of control. Moreover, Nye specified different types of control, differentiating between internal, direct and indirect controls. Youth may be directly controlled through constraints imposed by parents, limiting the opportunity for delinquency, as well as through parental rewards and punishments. However, they may be constrained when free from direct control by their anticipation of parental disapproval (indirect control), or through the development of a conscience, an internal constraint on behavior.

Moreover, contrary to the implications of some “strain” theories of delinquency, commitments to conventional goals inhibited delinquency even among categories of youth with few prospects for realizing those aspirations. Contrary to some subcultural and contracultural theories, he found few relationships between measures of social class and values or attitudes towards the law. Although Hirschi was not the first to propose a social control theory, the research monograph based on his doctoral research, Causes of Delinquency (1969) established his reputation as the preeminent social control theorist of the 20th century. Indeed, any reference to social control theory was presumed to be a reference to Hirschi's version of the ...