Showing papers by "Travis Hirschi published in 2017"

Causes of delinquency

Abstract: In Causes of Delinquency, Hirschi attempts to state and test a theory of delinquency, seeing in the delinquent a person relatively free of the intimate attachments, the aspirations, and the moral beliefs that bind most people to a life within the law. In prominent alternative theories, the delinquent appears either as a frustrated striver forced into delinquency by his acceptance of the goals common to us all, or as an innocent foreigner attempting to obey the rules of a society that is not in position to make the law or define conduct as good or evil. Hirschi analyzes a large body of data on delinquency collected in Western Contra Costa County, California, contrasting throughout the assumptions of the strain, control, and cultural deviance theories. He outlines the assumptions of these theories and discusses the logical and empirical difficulties attributed to each of them. Then draws from sources an outline of social control theory, the theory that informs the subsequent analysis and which is advocated here. Often listed as a "Citation Classic," Causes of Delinquency retains its force and cogency with age. It is an important volume and a necessary addition to the libraries of sociologists, criminologists, scholars and students in the area of delinquency.

On the Compatibility of Rational Choice and Social Control Theories of Crime

Abstract: This chapter traces the checkered career of the rational choice perspective and discusses the reasons for its persistent failure to be granted status as a serious, testable, or even reasonable theory about human behavior. It describes the vicissitudes to the irreconcilable conflict of basic assumptions about human nature that underlies criminological theorizing—between those who hold to the image of human beings as social animals and those who perceive them as self-seeking. The chapter suggests that social control theory, through its more realistic image of offenders as "losers," can provide a useful counterbalance. The distinction between crime and criminality and the division of labor between choice and control theories thus allows us to resolve the long-standing dispute between those who favor looking at specific offenses and those who would treat offenses as interchangeable. The choice perspective typically pays little attention to correlates of crime beyond the certainty, celerity, and severity of legal punishment.

A Control Theory of Delinquency

Abstract: This chapter is the theoretical heart of Causes of Delinquency. It is often reprinted and most textbooks in the field summarize the elements of the bond to society that it describes. Because the theory focuses on the strength of the bond of the individual to society, as perceived and reported by the individual, it has proved especially compatible with survey research and the self-report method of measuring delinquency. Hirschi points out that this was no accident, that his training in survey research and the survey data available to him undoubtedly influenced the manner in which the theory was developed. Whatever its sources, this feature of the theory helps account for the “perhaps unrivaled frequency” with which it has been the subject of formal tests (Kempf 1993: 143).—JHL/TH

Self-Control and Opportunity

Abstract: This chapter attempts to clarify the concept of opportunity from the perspective of self-control theory. It deals with the offense and the offender from the perspective of self-control theory. Self-control theory assumes that the nature of the offender may be inferred from the nature of criminal acts, and vice versa. Self-control theory sees criminal acts to be as “easy as falling down a mountain.” Self-control theory sees criminal acts as exciting, risky, or thrilling. Self-control theory sees crime as producing only meager short-term benefits. In self-control theory, individuals are restrained from crime because they care about the long-term or broader consequences of their behavior. Because they take the easy way, because they gain little from their crimes and risk much from committing them, offenders are characterized as having relatively little self-control. Self-control and opportunity may therefore interact for specific crimes, but are in the general case independent.

15. Punishment of Children from the Perspective of Control Theory

Abstract: In control theory, criminal behavior is likely whenever its advantages outweigh immediate and long-term risks, as perceived by the individual. Control theory assumes that delinquent and criminal acts provide immediate and obvious benefits, or satisfaction of ordinary human desires, at little expense of time or energy. In the control theory view, small punishments, corporal or otherwise, by teaching moral lessons, function to prevent larger penalties. The standard thesis of the punishment literature is thus contrary to control theory. Corporal punishment is not excluded by this interest, but if used would be expected to be well within the limits set by modem sensibilities. For control theory, neglect is the principal cause of punishment and especially excessive punishment. The basic model of childrearing from a control theory perspective is easily described: Proper socialization of children requires that adults monitor their behavior and correct misbehavior when it occurs.

The Distinction between Crime and Criminality

Abstract: Here is where Hirschi and Gottfredson grapple with the idea of behavioral change over time, especially behavioral change in conjunction with aging. The maturational reform problem in criminology was identified early on by David Matza in Delinquency and Drift (New York: John Wiley, 1964). The key question is whether propensity to crime is a fixed attribute. The conceptual solution employed by Hirschi and Gottfredson was to distinguish crime and criminality. This paper has not previously been reprinted. According to Hirschi, efforts to publish it in scholarly journals were unceremoniously rebuffed. He told me, “I don't think they even sent it out for review.” Yet it remains a key item in the development of self-control theory, builds directly on the age-invariance argument, and clearly anticipates many of the issues that have continued to exercise the field.—JHL/TH

A Propensity-Event Theory of Crime

Abstract: This chapter attempts to a theory of crime that acknowledges the ability of society to control crime without fundamental reconstruction of itself or the individuals within it. Theories of criminality are likely to be faulty unless they explicitly take into account the slippage between propensity and action; theories of crime are likely to be faulty unless they properly estimate the role of the “criminal” in such activities. Explication of the sources and consequences of this propensity is the specific task of a theory of criminality. Theories of criminality should tell us why some people are more prone than other people to commit crimes. Crimes are short-term, circumscribed events that presuppose a peculiar set of necessary conditions. An increasingly obvious shortcoming of criminology is that it lacks a general theory to guide social policy in the area of crime treatment and prevention.