The Sociological Theories of Crime Causation: Social Example: One who is labeled as a hired killer from

Reaction committing a crime because he is being

hired may become a real evil killer.
Social Reaction/Labeling Theory (Howard Becker and
Frank Tannenbaum) - Explained that society creates 15. Primary and Secondary Deviance (Edwin
deviance through a system of social control agencies that Lemert) - Primary deviance involves norm
designate (label) certain individuals as delinquent, violations or crimes that have very little influence on the
thereby stigmatizing a person and encouraging them actor and can be quickly forgotten.
to accept this negative personal identity.
Example: A college student, who steals a book to get a
Members of the rule-making society may label rule higher grade, later graduated and admitted
breaking behavior deviant depending on the degree of to a law school and became a judge. Because of his
reaction over time (Becker 1963). In 1938, Frank unnoticed act, it has a relatively unimportant
Tannenbaum presented his own approach to labeling event that has little bearing on his future life.
theory in response to his studies of juvenile
participation in street gangs. Tannenbaum describes Secondary deviance occurs when a deviant event
the process of defining deviant behavior as different comes to the attention of significant others or
among juvenile delinquents and conventional society, social control agents who apply a negative label. The
causing a "tagging" of juveniles as delinquent by newly labeled offender then recognizes his or
mainstream society. her behavior and personality around consequences of the
deviant act.
The stigma that accompanies the deviant "tag"
causes a person fall into deeper nonconformity Example: The Shoplifter student was caught by a security
(Pfohl, 1994). guard and got expelled from college. As a result, his law
school dream dashed, his options became limited, and
Consequences of Labeling eventually ended as a drug dealer and winds up in prison.

a. Stigmatization - Labels are believed to produce stigma.

People who have been negatively The Sociological Theories of Crime Causation: Social
labeled because of their participation or alleged Conflict Theories
participation in deviant or outlawed The social conflict theory which find that society is in a
behaviors maybe socially out-casted who may be constant state of internal conflict, as different groups
prevented from enjoying a higher strive to impose their will on others.
education, well-paying jobs, and other social benefits.
MARXISM THEORY
b. Self-labeling - It refers to the process by which a A social Political and Economic Philosophy of
person who has been negatively labeled Capitalism on labor, productivity and Economic
accepts the label as a personal role or identity. Development and argues for a worker revolution to
overtum capitalism in favor of Communism.
Example: A child who has been treated by his family as A very basic principle of the Marxist theory is the
stupid may live life assuming that theory of class division of society and class struggle.
he is stupid. According to it, each society has the oppressors and the
oppressed and the oppressed are eventually bound to
c. Self-fulfilling Prophecy - Deviant behavior patterns revolt and build a new society and economy.
that are in response to an earlier
labeling experience, a person acts out these social roles Relative Deprivation Theory
even if they were falsely bestowed. This theory was proposed by Judith R.
Example: A wife who keeps on saying that her husband is Blau and Peter M. Blau (1918-2002) which clearly
a cheater although it is untrue, emphasizes that a sharp-division between the rich and
there is a chance that the husband would fulfill the the poor creates an atmosphere of envy and
statements made by her wife. mistrust. Criminal
motivation is fueled both by perceived humiliation and the
d. Dramatization of Evil - Transforms the offender’s perceived right to humiliate a victim in return. Accordingly,
identity from a “doer of evil” to “an evil lower-class people might feel both deprived and
person”.
embittered when they compare their life crime. Assumes that the causal association between early
circumstances to delinquent offending and later
those of the more affluent. The constant frustration adult deviant behavior involves the quality of relationships
suffered by the deprived individuals because of their encountered at different times in
economic status may lead to aggression and human development
hostility and, may result to violence and crime (Siegel,
2004). The Social Development Model extends Social Control
Theory by proposing that delinquent or deviant behavior
For example: Abuque and Gadbilao are living in can result not only from the absence of conventional
proximate distance. Abuque is wealthy while Gadbilao is bonds but also from the presence of unconventional or
poor. Every morning Gadbilao smells that Abuque's food antisocial bonds.
menu varies everyday while in their home, almost every The social development model is a general theory of
day he finds difficult to prepare even if dried fish only. In human behavior that hypothesizes similar developmental
the long run, poor Gadbilao may feel envious and bitter processes leading to either prosocial or antisocial
toward the wealthy position of his neighbor. outcomes
Time will come that because of the extreme frustration
experienced by Gadbilao: he may either rob the house of Interactional Theory
Abuque integrates social control and social learning explanations
of delinquency. This theory views crime as a
LEFT REALISM THEORY consequence of interpersonal relationships and of what
Left Realism - It is most connected to the writings of those relationships mean. Assumes that important
British scholar John Lea and Jock Young in their 1984 variables within the model possess reciprocal or
work, “What Is to be Done about Law and Order?” feedback effects
by taking a more “realistic” approach, saying that street
criminals prey on the poor, thus making the poor doubly Delinquent behavior was caused by weak social bonds
abused, first by the capitalist system and then by the and involvement in delinquent networks but that
members of their own class. delinquency also had feedback effects to further
weaken prosocial bonds and further embed the individual
Their equation is very simple: Relative deprivation in deviant networks and belief system.
equals discontent; discontent plus lack of political The primary cause of delinquent behavior is a
solution equals crime. Young and Lea argued that weakening of bonds to conventional society.
crime victims in all classes need and deserve protection.
So, clearly crime happens when a person is being Bio-psychosocial theories of the causes of crimes
deprived economically plus the governing body in the
community (like barangay chairman) do not know Latent Trait Theory
how to render solutions to problem (like rampant The latent trait is defined as a stable
stealing in his barangay). If the thief succeeds in his feature, characteristic, property, or
first stealing, then there is a possibility that he’ll keep condition, such as
repeating his criminal conduct. defective intelligence, impulsive personality,
genetic abnormalities, the physical-chemical
Feminist Theory - is a major branch of theory within functioning of the brain, and environmental
sociology that shifts its assumptions, analytic lens and influences on brain function such as drugs,
topical focus away from the male viewpoint and chemicals,
experience and toward that of women. It aims to and injuries that make some people
understand the nature of gender inequality. Feminists delinquency-prone over the life course.
believe that both men and women should have the Basic human behavior nd drive such as attachment,
freedom to develop their human interests and talents, aggression,
even if those interests and talents conflict with the status violence, and impulsivity are linked to
quo. For example, if a woman wants to be a mechanic, antisocial
she should have the right and opportunity to do so. patterns.
Human traits alone do not produce
Life Course or Developmental Theories criminality and it is a combination of
environmental factors such as family life,
Age-graded theory - is an informal social control to educational attainment, economic factors,
formulate a life course view of and
neighborhood conditions. Physical or
mental traits are, therefore, but one part of
a large pool of
environmental, social, and personal factors
that account for criminality.

Evolutionary Theory
Rooted in Darwin’s theory of natural
selection, which explains the existence of
aggression
and violent behavior as positive adaptive
behaviors in human evolution; these traits
allowed their
bearers to reproduce disproportionately,
which affected the human gene pool

Cheater Theory
Suggests that a sub-population of men has
evolved with genes that incline
them toward extremely low parental
involvement and that men are sexually
aggressive and use their cunning to gain
sexual conquests with as many females as
possible. Because females would not choose
them as mates, they use stealth to
gain sexual access “cheating” including such
tactics as mimicking the behavior of
more stable males.

B. R/K Selection Theory

Holds that all organisms can be located
along a continuum based on their
reproductive drives. Those along the “R”
end reproduce rapidly whenever they
can and invest little in their offspring; those
along the “K” end reproduce slowly
and cautiously and take care in raising their
offspring. K-oriented people are more
cooperative and sensitive to others,
whereas R-oriented people are more
cunning
and deceptive. People who commit crimes
seem to exhibit R-selection traits, such
as frequent sexual activity.