Differential Association theory Sutherland

Differential Association Theory

Sutherland set out to develop a theory which would have the same characteristics as other scientific theories, namely, that "the conditions which are said to cause crime should be present when crime is present, and they should be absent when crime is absent." Sutherland recognized that while some types of crime are more prevalent in minority communities, many individuals in those communities are law-abiding. Similarly, among the powerful and privileged, some are lawbreakers; some are not. His theory is intended to discriminate at the individual level between those who become lawbreakers and those who do not, whatever their race, class, or ethnic background.

His theory gives priority to the power of social influences and learning experiences and can be expressed in terms of a series of propositions, which I am going to condense as follows:

1. Criminal behaviour is learned in interaction with other persons in a process of communication.

2. That learning takes place primarily in intimate personal groups and includes not only the techniques of committing crime but the motives, rationalizations, and attitudes which accompany crime.

3. Differential associations may vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity, and a person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favorable to violation of law over definitions unfavorable to violation of law.

4. The learning process involves the same mechanisms whether a person is learning criminality or conformity.

Thus it isn't a lack of social organization that characterizes communities and neighborhoods high in crime, but a differential social organization--a set of practices and cultural definitions that are at odds with the law.As Sutherland puts it: "In an area where the delinquency rate is high, a boy who is sociable, gregarious, active, and athletic is very likely to come in contact with other boys in the neighborhood, learn delinquent behavior from them, and become a gangster; the psychopathic boy who is isolated, introverted and inert may remain at home, not…