CCJS 105 Chapter Notes - Chapter 7: Informal Social Control, Operant Conditioning, Labeling Theory

• School: University of Maryland
• Department: Criminology and Criminal Justice
• Course: CCJS 105
• Professor: Kiminori Nakamura

Document Summary

Symbolic interactionism: a perspective in sociology that focuses on how people interpret and define their social reality and the meanings they attach to it in the process of interacting with one another via language (symbols) If men and women define situations as real, they are real in their consequences. Criminological theory devised by edward sutherland asserting that criminal behavior is learned through association with others who communicate their values and attitudes. Where people grow up matters greatly to the behavior they exhibit. Criminal behavior is learned in interaction with other persons during a process of communication. The principal part of the learning of criminal behavior occurs within intimate personal groups. When criminal behavior is learned, the learning includes techniques of committing the crime, which are sometimes very complicated and sometimes simple, and the specific direction of motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes. The specific direction of motives and drives is learned from definitions of the legal codes as favorable or unfavorable.