The family is the biggest piece of the pie Essay -- Social Control Th

The key writers of social control theories were influenced by the mid 19th century conservative ideals, in which people were adhering to the unchanging state of affairs. Social control theorist viewed crime as normal behaviour that resulted from "the absence of effective beliefs that forbid delinquency" (Jones, 2009, p. 228). Rather than questioning why humans deviated and became criminals, social control theorist wondered why most people conformed and did not engage in criminal activity. With elements from several theories, including anomie, social disorganization and differential association, criminologist have argued that social control theory is not new (William & McShane, 2010, p. 157). These conservative criminologist were looking for alternative ways of explaining crime and deviance from the explanations they already had (Sears, personal communication, November 2, 2010). While there are several different perspectives of social control theory, for the purpose of this paper, th e focus will be aimed at Hirschi's social bond theory. First off, by introducing Travis Hirschi's theoretical premise and specifically highlighting his main arguments. Secondly, some examples will be provided on how this theory has been implemented and discuss an authentic program created by me which applies his theory. Lastly, the focus will be directed towards the effectiveness and the limitations that his theory has. The origin of Travis Hirschi's social control theory can be traced back to Emile Durkheim, who not only came up with the idea of anomie, he also talked about forces of integration and forces of regulation (Cartwright, 2010, p. 68). Forces of integration were described by Durkheim as being informal forces, and included peoples commo... ...be that it helps to eliminate the critique that parents could be the root of the problems (Sears, personal communication, November 9, 2010). Given that the 'old' ways eventually become eliminated form society, my program would provide proper parenting skills for all individuals in which people would learn Hirschi's core elements. In contrast, one weakness that haas been argued is that social control theories "over-predict delinquency and relegate motivation to a matter of minor significance" (Jones, 2009, p. 243). Also, it has been said that these theorist have made an unjustified assumption that all individuals are bound to partake in delinquent activities. Overall social control theories, particularly Hirschi's social bond theory, have proved to provide striking effects and perhaps that is why it is popular to both the general public and the policy level.