SOC 2700 Chapter Notes - Chapter 14: Social Control Theory

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 2700
• Professor: Stephanie Howells

Document Summary

All emphasize the importance of factors in early life: general strain theory (examines efect of stress among school-aged children, self-control theory (focus on early parening) Developmental/life course theory (focus on child development) Atempt to bring strain to the processual, or personal level. Assumes people of all social classes and economic posiions experience frustraions/strain in rouine life. Three categories of strain: failure to achieve goals, presentaion of noxious (bad) simuli, removal of posiively valued simuli (likely largest cause) Any of these three events lead to strain, causing anger and other negaive emoions that must be coped with. No coping mechanisms = deviance (strain stress/anger deviance) Humans naturally act in a self-interested fashion socializaion is necessary to restrict this. Deines crime as acts of force or fraud undertaken in the pursuit of self-interest. Self-control: idea that people difer in how vulnerable they are to temptaions: derived from hirschi"s social control theory, crime is basically a problem of low self-control.