Social Learning Theory: Social Disorganization Theory And Social Developments

Micro Theory The micro-theory that can be associated to explain the case study and why child exploitation occurs online is the social learning theory. The social learning theory is built off of differential association with the idea that criminal behavior is learned from others (Moore, 270). However, social learning theory determines that individuals not only engage in criminal behavior when around people associated with similar behavior, but that the behavior is also justified (Moore, 270). The Internet and technology have made social learning for pedophiles and child exploiters easier due to the access and opportunities it allows. Before the age of technology, child exploitation had its issues as it was a very guarded topic as it is not

The types of social controls are society, communities, families, etc. These controls are meant to keep order and set societal standards that should be met and maintained. The situation concerning online child exploitation and grooming shows issues with social disorganization for both the offender and victim. For both the victim and offender, social controls fail as both people become involved in the deviant behavior. The reference towards the victim is not to place blame, but to show how the social controls failed and allowed the victim to be placed in the

This idea will be discussed later in the paper, but many victims meet a specific typology for offenders. There are specific traits that are preferable to offenders: children coming from single-parent families, children with school issues, poor relationships with adults, and other vulnerabilities that can be exploited (Kloess, 128). These are going to be children that lack social controls, such as family and community. Children that have home issues will not have that immediate social control that will dictate that sexual behavior with an adult is wrong due to the lack of involvement of the family unit. The deviant behavior will become rationalized due to the grooming of the offender and come off as the norm, just as crime would be the norm in a highly urban