Edwin Sutherland’s Theory of Differential Association
In the field of criminology, this theory recommends; that it is the interaction among other individuals who can learn proper actions, techniques, attitudes, and intentions for advance criminal behaviors. Its differential association expects that individuals choose the criminal paths in accordance to the definitions for law-breaking balance that exceeds on law-abiding acts. A critique leveled that differential association stems from the fact that an individual is independent, a rational actor, and with proper motivation as an individual.
Differential Association Theory
The theory is the major sociological contribution to criminology by Edwin Sutherland. This theory has a similarity on strain theory and social control theory in terms of its significance. The theories explain about deviance in the social relationships of individuals as considered. The theory of Sutherland departs from the perspective pathologically and biologically through the attributes of the cause of the crime to its context on individuals socially. Sutherland rejects the biological determination and the psychiatry of an extreme individualism. It includes the economic explanations of crime. The thorough search of some alternative crime understandings leads to the improvement of the theory of differential association. Contrary to its classical theory and biological theory, the theory on differential association has no obvious threats to the treatment to human as identified as criminals.
The theory of differential association has a principle that declares that an individual becomes delinquent due to an excess of favorable definitions to the violation of law over the definitions that are not favorable to the violations of law imposed. It implies that the criminal behaviors emerge the moment the person is exposed to social messages that are in favor to conducts than pro-social messages. Sutherland argues that the idea of theory of differential association and the differential social organization is applied to the levels of individuals and to aggregation or groups.
There are nine basic postulates presented on Sutherland’s final theory.
- The criminal behavior is learned. It implies that the behavior is not inherited. The person
is not trained in crime. It does not invent the criminal behavior.
- The criminal behavior is learned through interactions with other individuals in a
communication process. It means that in many cases and it includes gestures, criminal behavior is verbal.
- The principal portion of learning of criminal behaviors occurs in intimate groups. In a
negative manner, it implies the impersonal communications. For example, movies and newspapers that plays relatively an insignificant portion in criminal behavior communication.
- The learning includes techniques of committing crimes and specific direction of motives
and drives. It means that there is a simple way in committing the crime when the behavior is learned. Its motive is rationalized in terms of attitudes.
- The motives and drives are learned from definitions of the legal codes as favorable or
unfavorable with specific directions. The different context of situations is found in United States; its culture conflicts in relation to the legal code exist.
- Persons become delinquent due to an excess of definition that is favorable to violation of
law over definition that is unfavorable to violation of law. It is the principle of differential association. When individuals become criminal, they do it not only because of contacts with criminal pattern but also because of isolation from anti-criminal pattern. In a negative manner, the association are neutral as the crimes are concerned have little or no effect on the genesis of criminal behaviors.
- The differential association varies in duration, intensity, frequency, and priority. Priority
seems significant through its selective influences and intensity has to do with things as the prestige of the sources of a criminal or anti-criminal patterns and emotional reaction that relates to the association.
- The processes of learning criminal behaviors by association with criminal and anti-
criminal pattern involve all of the mechanisms in any other learning. In a negative manner, it implies that the learning of criminal behaviors is not restricted to the process of imitations. For example, if a person who is seduced learns criminal behavior by association but this would not be ordinarily described as imitations.
- The criminal behavior is an expression of general needs and values. There is no
explanation by those general needs and values since non-criminal behaviors are an expression of the same needs and values. Generally, thief steals in order to secure money. While honest laborers work in order to money. The attempts to explain criminal behavior by general drives and values such as the money motive is completely useless since the explanation of lawful behavior as completely as the explanation of criminal behaviors.
Edwin Sutherland believes that individual associations are determined in a general context of social organization. For example, family income as a factor of determining residence of family and in many cases, delinquency rate is largely related to the rental value of houses. The differential group organizations as an explanation of various crime rates are consistent with the differential association theory. Through these efforts, Sutherland's theory is still being modified and developed in order to explain more on variety of deviances.
References
Macionis, J. (2013). Differential Association Theory. Retrieved from
https://www.boundless.com/sociology/understanding-deviance-social-control-and-crime/the-symbolic-interactionalist-perspective/differential-association-theory/
Worley, R. (2012). Deconstructing Edwin Sutherland’s Differential Association Theory,
Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FnSJAz_gdI
Cressey, D. (1954). Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology: Differential Association Theory
and Compulsive Crimes, Volume 45, Issue 1, Retrieved from http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4221&context=jclc
