SOCIAL CONTROL THEORY. Social Control - Abstracts and Full Texts. Social control is defined as any effort to ensure conformity to laws, rules, or norms. It is the flip side of deviant behavior. One often causes the other. Social control is arguably the oldest concept in sociology. Ever since Edward A. Ross’s treatise of the subject in the late nineteenth century, social control has remained alive in sociology and criminology, although with different meanings.’ At first, social control referred to a society’s capacity to regulate itself. Then it was employed to indicate the more repressive and coercive forms of top-down control in capitalist regimes. From the 1950s onwards, social control has been conceived more narrowly in relationship to deviance and/or crime: social control refers to those mechanisms that are put into operation in response to crime, deviant behavior, or other deviations from socially prescribed norms. Within the last perspective, recent years have seen new forms of social control, generally thought of as progressive and rational alternatives to oppressive and coercive means, are added to the already existing systems of punishment, criminal justice and social control.

SOCIAL CONTROL THEORY

Social control theory attempts to explain why it is that all of us do not commit crime. Or to put this another way: why are most people law-abiding?

The answer lies in dimensions of social control. The many ways in which people are controlled by family, schools, work situations, conscience, etc.

Conventional theories, unlike social control theory, try to explain why individuals commit crime.

A Longitudinal Test of Social Control Theory and Delinquency - ROBERT AGNEW
Recent longitudinal research suggests that cross-sectional studies have exaggerated the importance of Hirschi's social control theory. This longitudinal research, however, suffers from one or more of the following problems: (a) measures of questionable validity and/or reliability; (b) misspecified causal models, including models that omit important variables and fail to examine the reciprocal and contemporaneous effects between variables; and (c) the failure to consider certain methodological problems peculiar to panel analysis, such as autocorrelation. Most of these problems reduce the likelihood of finding a causal effect from social control to delinquency, and so make the findings of the longitudinal studies suspect. This article uses data from the first two waves of the National Youth Survey to overcome these problems, and provide a more accurate estimate of the effect of social control on delinquency. - jrc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/28/2/126

The Interethnic Generalizability of Social Control Theory: An Empirical Test - MARIANNE JUNGER, INEKE HAEN MARSHALL
Social control theory is used to model the self-reported delinquency in a sample of 788 Surinamese, Moroccan, Turkish, and Dutch boys (all living in the Netherlands). Four hypotheses are tested: (a) social bonding variables predict variations in general delinquent involvement among Turkish, Surinamese, Moroccan, and Dutch male youths; (b) social bonding variables predict variations in a variety of types of delinquency involvement and deviance among Turkish, Moroccan, Surinamese, and Dutch male youths; (c) delinquent friends play the same role in the causation of general delinquency among Turkish, Moroccan, Surinamese, and Dutch male youths; and (d) the dimensions of the social bond are interrelated in the same way among all four ethnic groups. The multivariate analyses support the key propositions. The variables most consistently related to delinquency among the four samples are beliefs in conventional values, virtual (family) supervision, (school) conflict, and participation in unconventional leisure activities. - jrc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/34/1/79

The Weak Strength of Social Control Theory - David F. Greenberg
A reanalysis of self-reported delinquency data from the Richmond Youth Survey indicates that social control theory has only limited explanatory power. The analysis confirms a prediction of strain theory, although strain theory, too, has limited explanatory power. The impact of Hirschi's Causes of Delinquency may have been due as much to its ideological appeal as to the strength of the evidence that it presented in support of social control theory. - cad.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/45/1/66

Self-Control and Social Bonds: A Combined Control Perspective on Deviance
Douglas Longshore, Integrated Substance Abuse Programs, University of California, Los Angeles
Eunice Chang, Integrated Substance Abuse Programs, University of California, Los Angeles
Shih-chao Hsieh, Integrated Substance Abuse Programs, University of California, Los Angeles
Nena Messina, Integrated Substance Abuse Programs, University of California, Los Angeles
With longitudinal data from a sample of adult male drug offenders, this study tested 4 aspects of social bonding (attachment, involvement, religious commitment, and moral belief) and association with substance-using peers as outcomes of low self-control and as mediators of the relationship between low self-control and drug use. Low self-control was negatively related to social bonds and positively related to drug use and association with substance-using peers. The relationship between low self-control and drug use was fully mediated by moral belief and association with substance-using peers. These results support the utility of integrating self-control and social bonding perspectives on deviance. - cad.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/50/4/542

Exploring the Utility of Social Control Theory for Youth Development
Issues of Attachment, Involvement, and Gender
ANGELA J. HUEBNER, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
SHERRY C. BETTS, University of Arizona
The purpose of this study was to examine the utility of social control theory's "attachment" and "involvement" bonds as protective factors to examine gender differences in reports of delinquency and academic achievement in a sample of 7th to 12th graders. Attachment bonds were operationalized as attachment to parents, to nonparent adults, and to peers; involvement bonds were operationalized as time spent in various school- and non-school-based activities. It was expected that, with respect to delinquency and academic achievement, attachment bond variables would be more protective for females than the involvement bond variables, whereas the involvement bond variables would be more protective for males than the attachment bond variables. The findings suggest that although several of the involvement bond variables of social control theory are predictive of both delinquency and academic achievement for both genders, only the attachment bond variables provide such an overall protective function for females. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. - yas.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/34/2/123

Testing informal social control theory: examining lewd behavior during mardi gras - Redmon D.- Source: Deviant Behavior, Volume 23, Number 4, 1 July 2002
Abstract: This exploratory study extends Forsyth"s research on lewd behavior during Mardi Gras by testing Sampson and Laub"s (1993) theory of informal social control. Lewd Conduct at Mardi Gras is defined as the exposure of one"s genitals, anus, vulva, or female breast nipples, or engaging in oral or penetrative sex in any public place open to the view of people. The overall findings do not support Sampson and Laub"s theory of informal social control. Yet, significant findings did reveal that people who have high incidences of divorces and engagements are more likely to participate in lewd behavior during Mardi Gras. It is suggested that future researchers incorporate Forsyth"s methodology by using qualitative research when studying lewd behavior during Mardi Gras. - ingentaconnect.com

Religion and Social Control: An Application of a Modified Social Bond on Violence
Michael A. Cretacci
The central question explored in this article is whether the elements of a revised social bond, which includes religion, will have an impact on violence across developmental stages. Tests of social control theory are numerous, but criticism centers on the fact that the theory has limited explanatory power. Further, although social control theory is a popular theory, it was created without addressing a control whose importance was suggested by several of the authors from whom Hirschi borrowed—religion. The current study includes such measures in an attempt to determine whether the theory should be expanded when examining violence. The results indicate that social control theory is a poor explanation of violence. Specifically, only peer commitment was found to be significant for early adolescents. In addition, only school attachment, belief, and school and peer commitment were found to be significant for the middle developmental stage. Further, only school attachment and school commitment attained significance for late adolescents. Finally, the assertion that religion should be added to the social bond for the modeling of violence was not supported in this study, and further research is needed to ascertain the importance of such an addition. - cjr.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/28/2/254

The Integrated Social Control Model and Ethnicity
The Case of Puerto Rican American Delinquency
ORLANDO RODRIGUEZ, Fordham University, DAVID WEISBURD, Rutgers University
Delinquency research has not generally addressed the question raised by ethnographic studies concerning the extent to which the delinquency of specific ethnic groups can be modeled with a general theory. This study uses data from a survey of inner-city Puerto Rican American male adolescents to replicate Elliott, Huizinga, and Ageton's analytical model of delinquency based on an integration of social control, social learning, and strain theories. Taking as a point of departure Elliott and associates' path model results, and using the same measures developed for their National Youth Survey, the study applies the results of previous ethnographic research on the cultural specificity of the Hispanic family and on the relationships between conventional institutions and adolescent peer groups in inner cities to hypothesize a different model of delinquent involvement among Puerto Rican inner-city youths. The results generally verify the posited model, indicating that among Puerto Rican American adolescents, family bonding is a more important influence on delinquency whereas peer bonding is less important than is the case in the national sample of more affluent White youths. However, the most influential factors found in the National Youth Survey are also powerful predictors among Puerto Rican American youth. - cjb.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/18/4/464

Causes of Conformity: An Application of Control Theory to Adult Misdemeanant Probationers
Charles A. Lindquist, Department of Criminal Justice, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, U.S.A.
Terry Daniels Smusz, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of New River Valley
William Doerner, School of Criminology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, U.S.A.
The present study represents an attempt to expand Hirschi's social control theory of delinquency causation to include adult misdemeanant offenders on probation; in addition, the study proposed to see if social control theory can provide a theoretical framework for probation prediction studies. A quota sample of 328 cases was drawn from a population of 3,320 closed case files in three Florida counties where misdemeanant probation supervision was provided by a vendor agency from the private sector. The authors hypothesized that various measures of three bonding elements (attachment, commitment and involvement) were positively associated with conformity (successfulprobation outcome). Results indicated qualified support for several of the hypotheses with education and time on present job emerging as salient variables. Analysis of the data directed attention to several methodological problems and suggestions for future research. - ijo.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/29/1/1

Juvenile Delinquency in The Republic of China: A Chinese Empirical Study of Social Control Theory
Journal: International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice Volume:12 Issue:1 Dated:(Spring 1988) Pages:59-71
C J Sheu
Data indicated that juvenile delinquency increased dramatically recently in the Republic of China.
Abstract: This paper seeks to explain this phenomenon by invoking Hirschi's Social Control Theory. However, such an explanation can be offered only when there is empirical evidence to verify the applicability of Social Control Theory to Chinese society. Though Social Control Theory has received great empirical support from many American studies, cross-cultural verification remains to be seen. The study described here intends to test Social Control Theory by using self-reported data collected from 3717 Chinese junior and senior high school students of northern Taiwan. Major correlates of self-reported delinquency are presented and discussed. Apparently, Social Control Theory received much support from the Chinese data, while both strain theory and subculture deviance theory were not verified. Social Control Theory is said to be the most appropriate theory to explain the origin as well as the increased of juvenile delinquency in Chinese society. - ncjrs.gov/app/publications/Abstract.aspx?id=116187

Longitudinal Analysis of Social Control Theory
M D Smith
Social control theory is possibly more successful than most theories of delinquency because its premises allow for interpretations of variations in delinquent behavior.
Abstract: The social control theory as stated in its contemporary form by Hirschi in 'Causes of Delinquency,' (1969) is empirically examined. The theory states that variations in delinquent behavior can be related to the possession of four basic elements that bond an individual to society: an attachment to parents, a belief in the moral validity of social rules, a commitment to some type of achievement, and an involvement in conventional activities. Social control theory was tested with data from the Youth in Transition project, a longitudinal study of a national random sample of male adolescents. Using a working sample of 1,149 boys, the social control theory was subjected to three tests not reported in the literature. A basic control theory model was tested at two points in time to check for the stability of results across a 2 1/2-year period. These results were tested for possible alterations by controlling for the effects of race and class. Finally, an analysis of change was performed whereby the bonding elements were analyzed in terms of their effects on changes in delinquency. Results generally demonstrated the validity of the social control theory as an explanation of delinquent behavior. Tables, figures, and references are included. - ncjrs.gov/app/publications/Abstract.aspx?id=85140

A Path Analytic Examination of Differential Social Control Theory.
Ried, L. Douglas
Abstract: Used path analytic techniques to analyze differential social control theory as predictor of drug use among fifth-eighth grade students (N=860). Found that peer non-use expectations had largest effect on drug use and were directly influenced by parental, peer, and school attachments. - eric.ed.gov

Social Control Theory and Delinquency: A Multivariate Test.
Authors: Wiatrowski, Michael D.; Swatko, Mary K.
Abstract: Hirschi's social control theory of delinquency status that delinquency involvement is the function of the failure of an adolescent to form or maintain a bond to society comprised of attachment, commitment, involvement and belief. In the past decade Hirschi and other researchers have found substantial support for this original thesis using tabular analysis. Multivariate models of social control theory which simultaneously consider how all of the bond elements operate in relation to delinquency were investigated. Factor analysis and communality analysis were used to examine the empirical support for the uniqueness of the four bond elements; a great deal of shared variance among them was found. Measures of social class and ability as background factors were also added to the model to explicate the effects of those variables on the educational and occupational aspirational parts of social control theory. - eric.ed.gov

TESTING CONTROL THEORY AND DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION: A REANALYSIS OF THE RICHMOND YOUTH PROJECT DATA
BARBARA J. COSTELLO, PAUL R. VOWELL
In what has become a classic work in the field, Matsueda (1982) tested control theory against differential association theory using Hirschi's (1969) Richmond Youth Project data. Matsueda found that measures of "definitions favorable to law violation" entirely mediated the effect of his social control measures and friends' delinquency, and concluded that differential association theory was supported over control theory. We note several problems with Matsueda's specification of control theory, and we reanalyze the Richmond data including measures of commitment to conventional goals and several attachment to parents variables that Matsueda excluded. We also propose and test a new method of measuring the social bond, conceptualizing the social bond as a second-order latent construct. In contrast with Matsueda's findings, we find that the social bond and friends' delinquency retain important direct effects on delinquency, and that these effects are greater than those of definitions. Thus, our results are more supportive of control theory than differential association theory. - blackwell-synergy.com

Social Control Theory and Delinquency

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