Travis Hirschi is regarded as one of the great contributors to
Criminology. He was one of the first
theorists to examine factors aside from social influences for the determination
of criminal and deviant behavior. His
Social Control Theory instead examined internal factors such as family relations
as a determining factor for delinquent behavior. Hirschi believed that it was the relationship
between the child and its parents, which would determine the child’s behavior,
either positive or negative. These
beliefs were further examined in Hirschi and Michael Gottfredson’s General Theory
of Deviance. This paper will examine the
historical roots of the theories, the actual theories themselves, some of the
more popular criticisms as well as future implications for the use of Hirschi’s
Control Theories.
During the early 1900's the
"Social Disorganization Model" for explaining criminal behavior was
the dominant theory in the world of criminology. The teachings and principles of the Chicago
School had criminologists examining concentric zones around major cities in an
attempt to better determine criminal activities. It was believed that in these “communities of
social instability the opportunities for criminal misdeeds were greater and
therefore would produce more crime.” (Hirschi,1969, p.17) Theories such as this and ones related
continued to dominate criminology until the late 1960's.
Walter Reckless was one of the first
criminologists that attempted to offer a different approach to the social
disorganization theory. He discovered that social disorganization did indeed
expose people to criminal activities but there were still those that failed to
become involved in this deviant lifestyle. He concluded that social-structural
factors therefore could not be the sole cause of criminal activity as
previously believed. There had to be
some other factor that influenced this type of behavior. He determined this other factor to be of a
social-psychological nature and further broke the factor down into two main
categories: inner containment and outer containment. These factors he claimed
helped to protect people from becoming deviant. (Hirschi, 1969)
Influenced by the work of Reckless,
Travis Hirschi proposed a theory of control in 1969. Hirschi like Reckless believed that “the
construction of a society in and of itself was not an infallible way to
determine criminal activity.” (Hirschi, 1969, p.119) He felt that there was something else that
when combined with a criminal setting would produce deviant behavior. It was this particular external piece that
would explain the reasons why only certain people became criminals and others
did not. However, unlike Reckless,
Hirschi determined this "X" factor to be the family. He concluded that the bonds formed and
maintained by families would be the surest way to predict criminal
behavior. The greater the family bond
the less likely the individual would partake in deviant acts. (Hirschi, 1969)
This control theory, with its
emphasis on family structure, was a fairly new idea when it introduced. It detracted the focus from society and began
to examine external factors that in combination with particular social settings
would contribute to crime. Hirschi with his persistence of family as the key
factor arrived at a perfect time in the landscape of criminal theory. He helped to advance a line of thinking that
had grown old and stale.
SOCIAL
CONTROL THEORY
The teachings of Travis Hirschi can best be summarized in his “Social Control Theory.” It focuses on the social bonds that tie people to traditional society. First introduced during the Social Disorganization Movement, the basic premise behind this theory is that delinquency is caused when an individual’s bond to society is loosened or broken. (Hirschi, 1969)
Hirschi depended on the works of a few prominent criminologists to form his theory. One of the main contributions came from the teachings of the Classical School of Criminology. The basic principle of this school is that “crime is a natural consequence of the unrestrained human tendencies to seek pleasure and avoid pain.” (Gottfredson & Hirschi,1990) He also attempts to incorporate the teachings of the Positivist school. This theory, as opposed to Classical Criminology, emphasizes causation and determinism instead of the self-seeking pleasures of humans. Hirschi’s main goal in forming his theory was an attempt at blending these two very different approaches together. He wanted to take the freedom aspect of the classical school and combine it with the social aspect of the positivist school. Crime, he believed was a rational choice that was provided all individuals, but societal factors could heavily influence these decisions. All these things combined to form his “Social Control Theory.” (Hirschi, 1969)
According to Hirschi’s theory there
are two main types of social bonding dimensions. It is these social bonds that help prevent
delinquency in society. They are the inner and outer bonds. Inner bonds are composed of conventional and
internalized beliefs; for example how to act, and what to do. It is through understanding societal beliefs
that prevent people from becoming criminal. The rationale was that by sharing a
commonality with society people would not perform detrimental acts against it.
The second type of bonding system is the outer bond. These bonds protect against the likelihood of
deviant behavior as well. Hirschi
subdivided these bonds into three categories: attachment, involvement and
commitment.
“Attachment refers to the strength of a person’s ties to others,
particularly to other persons who conform to society’s normative standards.”
(Hirschi,1969, p.25) For Hirschi, this
meant the relationship one has to their parents, families and peers. It was thought that the more attached an
individual was to these upstanding members of society the less likely they
would engage in criminal behavior.
“Involvement refers to the
proportion of a person’s time engaged in the pursuit of conventionality.”
(Hirschi,1969, p.25) The reasoning behind this is that the less free time a
person has then the less likely they will be able to perform deviant acts. Instead, they will be preoccupied with
activities condoned by society and stay out of trouble.
“Commitment
refers to the degree of which a person is tied to conventional ways of
behaving in accordance with the prevailing norms.” (Hirschi,1969, p.26) The
logic behind this is that the more people succeed and gain by participating
positively in society the more they lose if they deviate. It is the basic “scare you straight” tactic
that says that the worse you behave the more that you stand to lose.
Another major theory of Travis Hirschi, developed
along with Michael Gottfredson is the General Theory of Deviance. It is related to motivations and
opportunities involved in environmental crime. This theory suggests that all
people are motivated to pursue short-term gratification, which includes money
without working for it, sex without courting it, and revenge without peaceful
conflict resolution. (It is this
proposition that relates most directly to violent behaviors.) (Gottfredson
& Hirschi, 1990) It stated that all actions and behaviors are regulated by
self-control. One of the major factors related to one’s level of self-control
is the degree of proper parenting. This
view is similar to Hirschi’s Social Control Theory in the use of putting family
and parental guidance as the central issue in preventing delinquency.
(Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990)
Levels of self-control according to
Hirschi and Gottfredson are neither solely high nor low. They instead vary among individuals along a
continuum from very high to very low.
Those with lower self-control have a lower frustration tolerance and are
more likely to engage in violent and delinquent behaviors. In addition, they are also more likely to
abuse alcohol and drugs as well as engage in promiscuous sex. (Gottfredson
& Hirschi,1990.) They respond to
stimuli immediately rather than reasoning things out and making rational,
logical decisions.
There are two corollaries to this
theory. The first deals with the concept
of stability. One’s level of
self-control is relatively constant from early adolescence up through adulthood. This is a similar pattern as the crime curve,
and as with the curve the older one becomes the more self-control one
accumulates. This according to Hirschi
and Gottfredson is the main reason for the majority of crime occurring among
juveniles. The second deals with
versatility and the idea that persons with lower self-control will opt to
exploit situations to satisfy their urges for self-gratification above all
else. (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990)
These individuals will constantly alter situations to suit their immediate needs
and desires with little regard for much else.
From their theory and book, A
General Theory of Crime, they created eight rules for controlling
crime. The first is do not attempt to
control crime by incapacitating adults.
They are generally well beyond the age of maximum crime participation and
thus serve no positive purpose being incarcerated.
Second, do not attempt to control
crime by rehabilitating adults. The only
thing that can really “cure” an offender is time. Simply letting the offenders “grow out” of
their criminal phase is generally the best solution.
Third, do not attempt to control
crime by altering the severity of penalties available to the criminal justice
system. It seems that the main goal of
punishment is to provide deterrence.
However, deterrence may be effective if it is immediate, but long-term
punishment fails to deter those on the lower end of the self-control
continuum. In fact, it may be more
detrimental.
Fourth, restrict the unsupervised
activities of teens. The more structured
the activity the less likely the individual will be able to engage in
mischievous behaviors. Effective crime
control measures should prevent teen crimes.
Fifth, limit proactive
policing. In instances such as stings or
large arrests the results are not very good.
In some cases they create some crimes, and prevent or cure none.
Sixth, question the characterization
of crime offered by agents of the criminal justice system and uncritically
reported by the media. Most of the
issues that are reported on television tend to be the extreme cases, and not
the norm as portrayed. Also, the
criminal justice system is not informed by hard data but instead by bureaucracy
and politics. It serves as but a tool to
serve the interests of those in power.
Seventh, support programs designed
to provide early education and effective child-care. Children require more attention at earlier
ages, especially with the increase of two-parent working households. Daycare programs need to be more affordable
and readily available to all. It is
their job to begin to teach children the ideals of the self-control that will
govern their lives and the choices they make.
Finally, support policies that
promote and facilitate two parent families and that increase the number of
caregivers relative to the number of children.
The increase of delinquent youths can be directly related to the decline
of the traditional American family, therefore something needs to be done alter
this. Providing adequate adult supervision, even if it is not the parent, will
help to reinforce the positive aspects of self-control and prevent
deviance. (Gottfredson & Hirschi,
1990)
When Hirschi first introduced his “Social Control
Theory” it was very different from many traditional sociological notions of
criminal behavior. It was the first
theory to answer the question of “why don’t we commit crime” instead of the
conventional question of “why do we commit crime.” Initially, the philosophies of this theory
were unquestioned because of their radical implications, but eventually
criticism emerged.
One of the main arguments against
this theory is that there are no adequate measures of these social bonds. Beliefs and values are far from concrete
entities, and therefore have no scale from which to judge them. The same can be said for the level of
attachment and commitment of individuals to certain things. According to Sampson and Laub “these bonds
are entirely too abstract and present no empirical support of their
measures…this makes them nearly impossible to compare across various subjects.”
(Sampson & Laub, p 187, 1993)
Another criticism is that the theory
provides little to no explanation for variance in criminal behavior. It bases everything on the fact that society
creates these values and norms, but fails to recognize that society
changes. These changes are constantly
creating new standards that dictate what is right and wrong, and must be
considered. This same criticism is
applied to Hirschi and Gottfredson’s “General Theory of Deviance.” “This theory with all its merits describes
lots but explains very little.” (Sampson and Laub, 1993, p.189)
A further admonition on the two theories is
their lack of comments on adults.
Characteristics of these theories are not just found in adolescents but
adults as well, yet they provide no explanation for adult criminality. It is something that is not even considered,
which creates an enormous problem in the assertions of the theories.
A
main criticism of Hirschi and Gottfredson’s “General Theory of Deviance” is it
fails to consider biology. With the
abundance of research presented in terms of biological implications on criminal
behavior it is “rather ridiculous and illogical” to ignore them. (Moffitts,
1997) Self-control does not uniformly
predict behaviors, and cannot be guaranteed simply based on outside
influences. The age-old assertion that
“good parents raise good kids” is not always true because some things are
simply beyond control.
In accordance with these criticisms, an abundant
amount of research has been conducted to attempt to solve these problems. For instance, Sampson and Laub created the
“Age-Graded Life Course Theory.” This
theory looks for a causal relationship between early delinquent offending and
later adult deviant behavior. It relies
on the bond concepts explained by Hirschi in terms of youths, but applies these
same bonds to adult issues, such as marriage and employment.
Another example is Bowlby’s
Attachment Theory. This theory states
that the development between the primary caretaker and the child is the basic
foundation of all future development. In
addition, it provides insight into the possible role of biology in determining
the best way to socialize the child into knowing right from wrong.
A majority of this new research is
continued today. Currently Hirschi’s
theories are still applied to discovering the causes of delinquency among
juveniles. His proposed eight rules for
controlling crime are still utilized in terms of determining the best treatment
and punishment for troubled youths.
Additionally his belief in the need for a strong and stable family is
quite popular, and a major cornerstone of juvenile research. Despite some of the obvious flaws in his
thinking, Hirschi will forever be viewed as one of the greatest supporters of
Control Theories in criminology.
REFERENCE/BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Gottfredson, Michael, Travis
Hirschi. 1980. Understanding Crime and Current
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Gottfredson, Michael, Travis
Hirschi. 1987. Positive Criminology. Newbury Park,
CA: Sage Publications. 189p.
Gottfredson, Michael, Travis
Hirschi. 1990. A General Theory of Crime. Stanford,
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277p.
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