Social Process Interaction Theories Differential Association Describe and explain the ways in which individuals become criminals through interactions with others their motivations perceptions behaviors attitudes identity etc Social Process Interaction Theories Deviant behavior is learned in much the same way that conforming behavior is learned The content and directions of learning differ as individuals respond to the varying pressures and constraints of their environment Edwin H Sutherland 1883 1950 Born in Nebraska grad school at University of Chicago One of the country s leading criminologists Many influential articles and books including Twenty Thousand Homeless Men 1936 The Professional Thief 1937 and Principles of Criminology Third Edition 1939 Edwin H Sutherland 1883 1950 Relied on work of Shaw and McKay as well as personal interviews with Chic Conwell a professional thief Last major book White Collar Crime analyzed crimes committed by American corporations and executives Pointed out the biases inherent in statistics such as the UCR that lacked data on WCC He believed that conventional generalizations about crime and criminality are invalid because they explain only the crimes of the lower class at most Sutherland 1949 x Differential Association Theory First and most prominent formal statement of micro level learning theory Introduced in 1939 in third edition of Principles of Criminology textbook final version in 1947 Differential Association Theory Response to Chicago school social disorganization and anomie challenged ideas of the time by stating that Deviant behavior is a normal expression of the social organization of subcultures within deviant areas Remains one of the most dominant theories of crime Nine propositions Sixth is the principle of differential association The Theory People acquire criminal behavior patterns through the same process by which they acquire conventional behavior patterns The Theory The Theory The Theory Criticisms Through association with others individuals learn values norms motivations rationalizations techniques and definitions that may either be favorable or unfavorable to violation of the law Individuals learn criminal behavior and are more likely to engage in criminal activity when the opportunity presents itself if they have been exposed to criminal definitions for a longer period of time with more intensity and more frequently than they have been exposed to anti criminal definitions Criminal behavior is not the result of biological or psychological pathology but is one possible outcome of normal interactive processes Very abstract and difficult to empirically test as a whole Definitions never precisely defined How do you measure definitions favorable or unfavorable to crime They cannot be observed or measured Criticisms Criticisms Learning process is never fully explained Leaves out personality and psychological variables Criticisms What accounts for the first criminal act interaction with criminals Important Observations Explains criminal and non criminal behavior Doesn t include media effects introduced before media became prevalent Doesn t explain the fact that people often respond differently to the same situation How does one explain crimes that are committed out of the blue and by people with no prior Can explain variations in group rates of crime as well as individual criminality Can be applied to white collar crime as well as street crime Most important served as the foundation for social learning theories of crime The Research Empirical support for the idea that criminal behavior is learned and that juveniles who report more delinquent friends tend to commit more delinquent acts Theory needs refinement to be more amenable to empirical tests Social Learning Theory