Differential Association and Techniques of Neutralization The following paper will discuss Edwin Sutherland’s differential association and Matza and Sykes techniques of neutralization. This paper will go into great depth on defining the theory with two peer reviewed journal studies about each of the theories. This paper will also go on to discuss the four studies and if the theories support the studies. Lastly, this paper will talk about the theories and how they are a part of the subjective nature of deviance.
The differential association theory was presented by Edwin H. Sutherland in 1939 who was a criminologist. The idea of the theory is that people learn criminal behavior by interactions with other human beings. Sutherland also said
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The last statement that Sutherland made was that criminal behavior is an expression of needs and values. The techniques of Neutralization which was created by Sykes and Matza. Sykes and Matza proposed five techniques of neutralization, they are a denial of responsibility, denial of injury, denial of the victim, condemnation of the condemners, and appeal to higher loyalties. Denial of Responsibilities is the failure to admit that they are responsible for their actions. Denial of Injury is the evaluation of a crime. If the offender did not hurt anyone they feel that the crime was not a big deal. Denial of the victim is when the offender denies anything that they did was wrong and then blames everything on the other suspect. Condemnation of the condemners is the shift of focus the criminal gives to the person who disapproves of the criminal deviant act. Appeal to higher loyalties is when criminals follow the rules for the larger …show more content…
Short Jr., from Oxford University called Differential Association and Delinquency. The study asked many boys and girls from a school in a Washington state in February of 1955. Since the study was about the analysis of delinquent behavior the test subjects were comprised of only sixteen and seventeen year old males and females. The State College of Washington gave a questionnaire to 126 males and 50 females. The questionnaire was created along with the help of the Sociological Laboratory at the State College. The questionnaire was answered anonymously. About 14% of the questionnaires were refused because of the many questions that were left blank. Ten percent of the males and four percent of the females questionnaires were refused because of the frequent blank responses. After the study was examined again the study continued when over 1200 males and females were asked the same questionnaire from a different school in Washington state. Questions asking about the number of delinquent juveniles, friends, and adults were asked during the
Differential Association Theory The film “Blow” covers many different topics of differential association theories. The attitudes, the values, and the motives for criminal behavior as learned behavior. The film Blow, goes into the start of a young kid name George Jung, his parents want him to have values and live a wonderful life for himself. George is raised with father owning his own business, a stay home mother.
Differential association theory was founded by Edwin H. Sutherland (Lilly, 2012, p. 43). This theory states that “any person will inevitably come into contact with definitions favorable to violation of the law and with definitions unfavorable to violation of the law” (Lilly, 2012, p. 44). Whichever definition is more prominent in a person’s mind, will lead to their decision of “whether the person embraces crime as an acceptable way of life” (Lilly, 2012, p. 44). Sutherland composed nine propositions that explained the theory. He explained that “crime is learned through the process of differential association” (Lilly, 2012, p. 45). The nine propositions explained that “criminal behavior is learned” (Lilly, 2012, p. 45). He explained that by communicating with others, especially those that are close to them they are more likely to pick up behaviors from those people. Differential association theory also explains that learning criminal behaviors “involves all the mechanisms that are involved in any other learning” (Lilly, 2012, p. 45). While learning a criminal behavior one not only learns “the techniques of committing the crime” but also the “specific direction of motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes” involved with crime (Lilly, 2012, p. 45). This is theory is shown throughout the book when the young Mr. Moore was influenced by the life of crime that was present in his
Differential Association Theory is defined as a theoretical perspective that examines how people learn to be deviant or a conformist based on the community they are a part of. For example, because students are sitting in class room they have learned to conform to gain rewards and now are able to achieve in society. Edwin Sutherland coined the term differential association to indicate this: from the different groups we associate with, we learn to deviate from or conform to society’s norm. (Handlin 2015, Smith 2017).
As a social process theory, drift and Neutralization sees a crime to be a part of wider social interactions. It views social order as non objective and non consensual and posits that there is not a single fundamental social goal that is held by all social groups; rather there are many different overlapping social values within a society, both conventional and delinquent: legitimate and illegitimate. Drift and Neutralization Theory posits that individuals learn values and delinquent behaviours through their exposure to sub-cultural values. “Deviant or delinquent (or criminal) subcultures do not reject ‘dominant’ values and beliefs. Instead, there is tension between inclinations to adhere to mainstream values and beliefs.” This sees that criminals can drift between deviant and conventional behaviours and how to use various techniques of neutralisation to rationalise their criminal activity. In analysing McVeigh’s motives, his learned sub cultural values can be examined to demonstrate how he was able to rationalise his violations of the law and how he came to drift from non delinquent to delinquent actions. The techniques of neutralisation; denial of responsibility, denial of injury, denial of
“Animal Kingdom” is a movie about the criminal story of a 17 years old boy call Josh. His mother was died due to heroin overdose, he had no choice but to live with his grandma and the three uncles. The story is about how Josh was influenced by this crime family and to step in an uncontrollable situation. In the movie “Animal Kingdom”, the main character Josh has committed in crime, for example he stole a car, provided false declaration, and shoot dead. The differential association theory and self-control theory will be used to explain Josh criminal behaviors. The differential association theory suggested that criminal behaviors is a process of learning through interaction and communication with others (Sutherland, 1947). The self-control theory
Differential associations vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity. Referring to the contact an individual must have with proponents of criminal behavior; this principle suggests that there is a varying, but direct, relationship that affects how often, for what length of time, how important, and how intense deviant behavior
How to research or ideas fit in with the assigned reading. The study was able to illustrate the dynamics of Sutherland’s Differential Association Theory and Aker’s Social Learning Theory through the simple fact that the study focuses on social behaviors, particularly deviant behaviors that can be the result of society or interactions. These deviant behaviors are typically learned actions as a survival mechanism due to a deteriorating community. Allen and Lo constructed their study from Anderson’s (1999) study of black male behavior within poor neig...
Differential association theory best explains the burglary deviance. There are many principles associated with this type of learning theory. Edwin Sutherland’s theory discusses how crime is a learned behavior where one’s family, peers, and environment are of great influence. Differential association theory seeks to prove that criminal behavior is learned and this paper will evaluate the connection between the two.
Secondly, differential association varies based on the intensity, duration, frequency, priority, and timing of one’s process of learning. Through this notion, the individual’s self is disregarded and more emphasis is placed on the extrinsic factors. Furthermore, “it is an individual’s experiences and the ways in which the individual defines those experiences which constitute to the learning of criminality”. (Gongenvare & Dotter, 2007,
In this paper, I am going to going to examine the criminological theory of Differential Association theory by Edwin H. Sutherland. Also I am going to examine Kirk White from the film The Wild and Wonderful World of the Whites of West Virginia. Furthermore, I am going to apply Edwin H. Sutherland’s Differential Association theory to explain and understand the deviant actions of this character. I conclude that Differential association theory will explain why this character act in a deviant why.
For many, the term juvenile delinquent likely conjures up images of groups of young men standing on street corners, wearing baggy clothes, and boasting defiant attitudes. However, some may be surprised to learn that the face of the juvenile delinquent is swiftly changing. While boys are responsible for the majority of juvenile crime overall, the number of juvenile females involved with the justice system has been steadily increasing over the past three decades (Gross 84). Of greatest concern is the context of the crimes being committed by juvenile girls, as arrest rates have increased most in the area of violent offenses. In response to this emerging trend, juvenile justice professionals are increasingly advocating for gender specific intervention and rehabilitation models to deter further delinquency involvement. This effort is rooted in investigating the risk factors for criminal behavior among adolescent females, and the compound effect multiple risk factors may illicit.
Thompson, W. E. and Bynum J. E. (2010). Juvenile Delinquency: A sociological Approach Eighth Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Juvenile delinquency may evolve around many different factors before it becomes a problem for society to solve. Gender and family structure can be a large and underlining cause of why children enter the criminal justice system. By examining the gender and family makeup, one could better understand how to treat a troubled individual.
...t deviance is a learned behavior like all other social behavior. When there is an excess of definitions favorable to deviance or law violation deviance (or in our case, corporate tax evasion) occurs. Differential Association states that criminal behavior is learned in interaction with other persons in a process of communication and that the principal part of the learning of criminal behavior occurs within intimate personal groups. Undoubtedly there can be a connection drawn from the intimate settings where the decisions to commit tax evasion are made and the above state definition. When a people are in small group setting the person inevitably assimilates into the surrounding culture, in this case tax evasion.
Sociologist Edwin Sutherland first advanced the idea that an individual undergoes the same basic socialization process in learning conforming and deviant acts (Schaefer 2015). Through cultural transmission, criminal or deviant behavior is learned by interacting with others. This learned behavior also includes motives and rationale for explaining the deviant acts. Sutherland used the term differential association to describe the process through which an individual develops an attitude of favorability to deviant acts that leads to violations of rules, through interactions with social groups. These acts can also include noncriminal deviant acts, such as