Social Bonds and Deviance Goes Against the Norm

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Social Bonds and Deviance

Deviance is a term used to describe behavior that goes against the established social and cultural norms. The concept of deviance is complex because norms vary considerably across groups, times, and places. Essentially, individuals commit deviant behavior when society defines it as such. Within the field of criminology, a number of theories exist that attempt to explain why some people engage in deviant behavior, while others abstain from it. One of these theories is Travis Hirschi’s, social bond theory, which eventually becomes the blueprint for subsequent control theories. This paper will analyze aspects of social control theory and social bonds, for the purpose of seeing if they can deter deviant behavior.

Social control theory focuses on how the lack of close relationships with others can free individuals from social constraints, which in turn allows them to engage in delinquency. Unlike most criminology theories that claim to explain why people offend, control theories offer the justification for why people obey the rules (Cartwright, 2013). Social control theories focus primarily on external factors and the processes by which rules become effective. Followers of this theory believe that deviance and crime occur because of inadequate constraints. This theory also examines the lack of control a person has in relation to society and explains how deviant behavior occurs in proportion to the strength of one’s social bonding. For the most part, social control theory assumes a shared value or belief in social norms. Therefore, even those who break laws or violate social norms, share the general belief that those rules should be followed (Cartwright, 2013). Thus, the essence of social control theory is ...

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...eople who grew up with bad parental figures, and strongly believed that they had no place in conventional society. This tied in with Thornberry’s concept of developmental changes across various stages of adolescence. When these individual do not have a significant attachment to family during their childhood, they have already begun rejecting some of society’s rules. This coupled with Laub and Sampsons assertion that social bonds increase an individual’s social capital which in turn restricts deviant behavior, almost guarantees a path of deviance for that individual. Furthermore, as Bouffard and Petkovesk’s study showed, social bonds really do have an effect on some types of deviant behavior. As previously mentioned, the readings have truly convinced me that social bonds play an integral role in the decision to participate in deviant behavior.

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