The Social Bond Theory: The Life Of Willie Bosket

The Social Bond Theory fits well into the life of Willie Bosket. Originated in 1969 by Travis Hirschi, Social Bond Theory argued that through effective socialization, a relationship forms between individuals and a social group. When this bond becomes weak or broken, deviance and a life of crime may result (Schmalleger 107). These bonds include components of communal relationships, including family attachments, individual commitments to social and organized norms, involvement in activities, and the belief that these factors are significant. Since the relationships have been thought to help in decreasing the need to partake in disobedient conduct, a great deal of emphasis is put on the fact that a shortage of these attachments exists among juvenile

delinquents. During early childhood, everything went wrong for Willie Bosket. First, he was born into a single parent home, because his father had been incarcerated at this time. Butch was serving time due to the murders he had previously committed (Butterfield 138). Willie had to grow up without a father, thus leading to the lack of attachment referred to above. Laura, Willies mother was emotionally detached and often abused Willie due to her frustration. He did not experience a secure attachment with his mother: “He had been neglected and rejected by his father and mother, and he burned with an inner rage (Butterfield 82).” We also see an instance where Willie begins to get sexual abused by his grandfather, James. All of these accounts lead Willie to a life of a crime. As a result, Willie had twisted understandings of the law. These weak bonds opened the doors to delinquency and crime. I believe if there had been suitable social bonds in existence, Willie would have been more informed about the reasoning behind his father’s incarceration; moreover, he would of took the steps to educate himself on the subject matter and prevented himself from following down the same dark path.
Edwin Sutherland first looked at Differential Association or Learning theory, in 1939. He felt criminality was learned through a process of differential association with others who communicate and promote criminal values. Differential association refers to the explanation for crime that holds that people pursue criminal behavior of those who they identify with, or whom they feel will accept their behavior. Sutherland was the first well-known criminologist to suggest that most human behavior is learned, including crime (Schmalleger 105). According to the belief, individuals learn to define those actions that are rewarded as positive behaviors, and learn to reiterate these behaviors. We see a perfect example of this with James Bosket, Pud’s son. Butterfield tells about how James listened by learning from his father’s example. He explains how James would tell his relatives, “When I grow up, I’m going to be a bad man, just like my father (Butterfield 84.)” James always kept his knife sharp and by his side. Although this habit was not illegal, it proves that James absorbed some of his father’s criminal tendencies.
Butch, James’ son, learned some of his most violent behaviors directly off the streets. Butterfield shows this in the passage where Butch watches two men in a bar fight. He watched them fight it out to the death with knives (Butterfield 76). Butch was not learning in school; however, he was carefully absorbing the lessons of the street. Butch even received encouragement from his grandmother when it came down to fighting for respect: “ I tell my children to fight it out… If Butch don’t fight, I’m gonna beat him myself (Butterfield 85).” Butch’s later actions, more importantly, the stabbing of two men to death, support this theory of Differential Association. This is where the southern code of honor merged with the code of the street. It begun on the frontier among whites, and now, it was moving into African American neighborhoods. Butch had no human attachments and focused all his attention on being the toughest boy in the hood.
Willie grew up worshipping his father Butch for his violent past.

We first see this when Willie is at Wiltwyck talking with a teacher. Willie told her, “ When I grow up, I want to be just like him”, these feelings left Willie’s teacher with the belief that he had learned that criminal behavior was a progressive and fulfilling path to go down, thanks to his father, Butch. In fact, later on in his life when he first arrived at Wiltwyck, Willie beat the crap out of inmates who threatened him sexually. After the beating, Willie told the kid, “You remember this… My father is a killer. I’m just like him, and I’ll kill you too (Butterfield

164).”
Willie may have learned violence from his mother even more so then from his father. She would toss him around like a rag doll and whip him with a belt (Butterfield 140). These beating could only strengthen Willie’s principle that the best solution was through physical violence.
The final theory that assists the explanation of Willie Boskets crime causation is Strain Theory.

A man named Robert Merton created the original form of Strain Theory in 1938. Strain theory portrays misbehavior as a form of problem-solving, usually done in response to problems including frustration, an unattractive social environment, or unobtainable object or goal. Taking Emile Durkheim’s concepts of “anomie” or “without norms”. Merton created a model in which crime is caused due to strain of the person. Fluctuating based on other social factors; some folks prefer to commit crime to achieve their goals (Schmalleger 89). A main reason Willie may have turned to a life of criminality is the disadvantaged environment from the start. He came from a poor family where food and cloths were at the bare minimum. The first instance of strain little Willie faced was hunger. He would go down to the corner market and steal by any means necessary to provide extra food (Butterfield, 137). Would he have robbed the grocery store if there had been a fatter supply of food at his house? This would be a question asked by a strain

theorist.
According to Merton, people facing strain can choose from five paths. Most conform, finding it hard to meet the norms of society while achieving their goals. Some turn toward ritualism, scaling down the societal construction. These individuals completely reject the goals of society; moreover, they form their own goals using means that society accepts. Other people, dealing with the same strains Willie Bosket did, retreat from society, incapable of accepting the goals of society and the means to achieve them. Willie Bosket however, with his brainpower, fearlessness, and motivation became an innovator, One who felt at a disadvantage of obtaining the “American Dream” of being economically independent, so he used whatever means he had to work on achieving that goal, legal or not.