CRIM 4325 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Social Control Theory, Gun Violence, Anomie
Document Summary
Hirschi"s social control theory is based on conformity preventing crimes due to the social controls and attachment that we have to society. According to hirschi, the most important element of the social bond is attachment that is, affection for and sensitivity to others (bernard, snipes, & gerould, 2016, p. 222). When the individual"s bond to society is either not established or becomes broken, it can lead the individual to engage in delinquent acts. Durkheim"s egoistical suicide fits this model in the way that the breakdown of the social bond leads to the pain of isolation, which in turn leads the individual to criminality. It is the breakdown of society which causes the strain rather than the individual"s detachment to society. I feel that strain theory better explains the aurora colorado theater mass shootings than. James holmes was intelligent, came from an upper-middle class family, and was a student in graduate school.
