Since you're working on your presentations, I want to make sure that you understand how we apply and test theories (as you will be doing through your presentations). I am asking you here, and in your presentations, to consider how useful theories are in explaining criminal or deviant behavior. As critical criminologists, please think about the limitations of each theory and consider how other theories might address the limitation of another theory. Often, social scientists integrate the most useful parts of a few theories to create a new theory... The best presentations will do this.
Please view the following clip and consider the following questions:
1) How does strain theory help to explain the deviant behavior?
2) How does differential association theory help to explain the deviant behavior?
3) Considering the limitations of each, is there a way to integrate the theories in order to create a more effective explanation of the deviant behavior?
17 comments:
WHen I watched this clip i saw more similarities to the diff. association theory. The parents are trying to give their kids a better life by moving to better neighborhoods but obviously the gangs are there too. Unfortunately the parents working 2 and 3 jobs leaves the kids alone and they do start to associate with the wrong people. They learn the behaviors from the other members and they want "respect". And I agree with Dr. Scott in the fact that all the media with the gangster rap and gangster videos makes the kids think that this is cool and everyone is doing it. They are innovated to break the law to get what they want, such as money, respect, etc. I think both theories are used in this because its not just a cultural fact becuase alot of these kids are from good homes and good neighborhoods, but they do learn these behaviors from watching others. It proves that it doesnt matter what class a person is from, they can be a criminal. I know I am dating myself but when I was a teen the worst thing going on was selling weed in the park in OOB or something along those lines, but since then MTV, music, tv etc. have changed so much that kids think being bad is being cool , and taking an easier route to get something they want is better than gaining it the right way.
Let’s get started off on the right foot by going over what’s wrong with our society. Our society is massively time oriented and constrained. This in itself seems like a normative thing and doesn’t have any harm to anyone. Unfortunately that observation is narrow, and pinnacled on a naive view. The truth that stands behind it is that people take time for the wrong things.
Every day every second of every body’s life we are rationally making decisions as to what we will do in the future. We decide on where we are going next and prioritize our daily needs. Sounds good, sounds great, unfortunately, is wrong. Everyday every second of every body’s life we are making irrational decisions. We do things that are immoral and in the schema of priorities are not always ranked accordingly. People set scoring drugs higher than finding their children adequate child care. People drink alcohol and hit spouses in front of their children. I’m not saying everyone does it, but it is an increasing trend. Almost as if it were an epidemic. Does society play a roll in this?
According to the differential association theory, deviance is learned. Are these children that grow up in these time dysfunctional families learning and being subjected to things that they deem "normal"? Does society reinforce these ideals? My answer is yes. Children growing up in these families see their parents and their peers acting and engaging in this socially unacceptable behavior. For these growing subcultures, it is normal. Children are learning how to act deviantly basically. Their parents are not giving them the time and care that they need to be well standing members of society. They are not being given a "good life". Therefore, these children are looking for their "good life". They turn on the television and she these rappers with all their gold and money and woman and instantly see the "good life". They take what they learned from their parents/ friends and start living the life they want to live. They learn to live the "good life". Thus their involvement in gangs becomes number one priority in their lives. The "good life" comes with a price, to bad it has to be their life.
These people, these children are strained by the thought of keeping up with their new found clique. They need to keep their social acceptance. But in order to keep this acceptance they need to go against social norms and adapt what they know, even if it contradicts their own being, to conform to the gang. They need to go out and kill/ beat/ rob/ steal/ lie/ cheat/ destroy/ deface/ rape etc. In essence, they are creating a new subculture full of their own codes and laws and sets of standards and beliefs. These people set a hierarchy in place where the "toughest" is the gang leader. IN other words, the most deviant person of the gang is the leader. People involved in gangs will do everything and anything to be the top dog and get all the wealth girls and guns. They try so hard to obtain it and will do anything and everything to obtain it.
In this video clip, children of dysfunctional families are joining the ways of the gangs and when their family says woops, and tries to correct the problem it’s too late. The family tries to move to well to do pricy neighborhoods hoping that the urban tranquility and prosperousness will instill some sense into these kids. Unfortunately, to these children, the gang life is the best life. These neighborhoods are being infected by this gang disease. It is an epidemic happening everywhere. Society is portraying the "good life" as the socially accepted standard. It is not depicting how to live morally and prosperously. All because that’s not fun, it’s better to do what you want, when you want it and those of you who oppose you, you get ride of/ don’t listen. A no rule society in essence. To a 10 year old that is having problems with his/ her parents, this sounds like a great idea! Thus children tell other children about this new way of the "good life" and again this epidemic spreads. Good job society! Way to cause an epidemic of disease! No, no one is getting sick, my temperature is still 98.6 and i'm fine, but the kids in my neighborhood are horribly sick. They r pregnant at 13 yrs old, they are killing people at 15 years old and are dead by 20. Sounds like everything is fine.
All in all, children are learning how to live the "good life", aka the gang life from their parents and peers. These children will do anything and everything to have and get more out of the "good life". Once a stereotypical subculture consisting of low-class young males in urban settings has now infectiously spread to middle class suburban young men/ women. There is no way to counteract this epidemic. It will only spread. I’m not being pessimistic. People will do what they want to do and get what they want. The best way to do it is the way that best suites their needs and is easiest to do. Thus the "good life" runs king of the ways to obtain these goals. Children learn that the "good life" is the best life and they will do anything to get and maintain that life. Good job society.
I agree with Susan that there is more connection to differential association, kids joining gangs to try and fit in, learning from their peers due to the lack of parental involvement. Strain theory I think comes in to play with kids trying to keep from getting beat up. They end up joining a gang to find a place to fit in and have a group that protect each other. It is so hard a a kid to fit in and a gang is an easy way to find a group that will accept you. Then you learn their behaviors which is differential association.
Combining the two theories I think is more like one leads to the other. It is strain that leads teens to join a gang in search of acceptance and protection. Once they have joined the gang the learn the deviant behaviors and are forced to perform certain acts to be accepted by the rest of the gang members. It really does come down to influences, since kids spend more time with peers than with their parents it is obvious that they will learn from their peers whether they are good or bad habits. It is also very hard to stand up to peers so if you are being beat up for not being in the gang why not join it. It takes a very strong individual to resist taking the easy way out.
1) If you were going to use the strain theory to explain this deviant behavior, you could say that before these kids moved to these nice neighborhoods, their families were probably not in good financial standing and perhaps they saw the only way to get money for themselves and their families was to join gangs and obtain money in illegal ways. You could also say that once these parents move in to these nice neighborhoods, the fact that they are having to work so many jobs and so many hours, it puts a strain on the family life. The parents are not around to know what their children are doing. They are obtaining this American dream but they don't really have the means (one really good paying job) to really live comfortably or enjoy the lifestyle.
However, you could find limitations of this theory because when they were in their old neighborhoods, the only way to reach the American dream was to be part of a gang. So if this theory was true, now that they have the nice house and what not, they should cease to want to be part of a gang because they have reached the American dream (or their parents have) through legit ways.
2) If you were going to use differential association to explain this behavior, you would obviously say that the kids learned this violence and these deviant/illegal gang behaviors when they were in their not-so-nice neighborhoods and once they moved to the new, nicer neighborhoods, they were exposed to gangs and violence and such young ages and for such a long period of time that its now just something that comes natural to them and even though now, they have nice houses and live in a better neighborhood, this violent way of life is all they know.
This clip leads me to believe that the middle class gangs have to do with differential association theory. The kids aren't learning it from their parents. The parents are working hard in order to move out of dangerous neighborhoods. Unfortunately, they work too hard and leave the kids alone too much. This leaves them with extra time to associate with the wrong kind of people. They in turn learn the gang lifestyle. They learn that being in a gang is the only way to stay safe. So this part could be related to strain theory. Also, they mentioned rap videos and such which influence the thoughts of the kids. The cultural influence in the rap videos could be related to strain theory. They see these rappers in gold and diamonds and hear them talking about being a gangster, it influences their thoughts on what it is to be a gangster. Either theory could be related in some way to the middle class gangs scenario.
Watching this clip and the fact that gangs are not just present in the lower income neighborhoods leads me to relate it to differential theory. The parents are trying to make the best life possible for their children by providing them probably with both emotional and materialistic means. The children in these gangs got influenced by the wrong kids and got tied up in a gang. Once your in a gang even if you realize you dont want to be apart of it anymore its very hard to get out without any type of punishment by the other members. Sometimes once you head down the wrong path in life its hard to get back on track and getting involved with gangs is one of those things. The video showed what most people would have never realized that gangs are evident everywhere and not just in poor neighborhoods. I think relazing this will better help to deter them and keep kids out of them.
This clip showed more similarities to the Differential Association theory. These kids are seeking friendship and companionship with their peers. They also want to bond and reach that sense of bonding with others than their families. It is sad to think that the only way some kids can achieve this is to join gangs. Parents move these families out of the rough neighborhood to give the children a chance for a better life, but these kids have already been exposed to the violence and they take it with them. I do not think that all of the blame can e put on the media and music. Yes they preach about drugs and violence and money, but every type of music can corrupt people, not just the rap. Even country music talks about drinking and shooting guns. The strain theory does apply, but not as much. These kids take their previous culture and way of life, and then force it on what used to be safe neighborhoods.
I really think that this does have more in relation to the differential association theory. I think these kids start off in these gangs more following their friends, hanging out and stuff like that. however, as kids from the inner city and other areas of heavy gang influence move out to the suburbs, they seek peers that have like interests and understanding, thus these more adept kids in the gang world come into these suburban gangs and help to transform them from harmless to hardened. And as more and more gang members delve into crime, those involved are more likely to follow their peers and get into the criminal side of gangs.
I think that this clip is related to differential association theory. The parents move to a middle class neighborhood to give their children a better life but end up leaving them alone all the time. The kids start watching their peers and learning their behaviors. They see something appealing like a sense of belonging which they aren't getting at home, so they turn to gangs. Being in a gang gives them a family that is always around but not necessarily good for them. This clip showed a side of this country that we don't always see, middle class gangs.
There is a lot of outside factors involved within this clip. Strain theory explains psychologically the different outside forces that influence behaviors, beliefs and attitudes. according to the clip there are many factors; television, music,peer pressure, since of belonging, lack of parental influence, pride, fitting in and having a backbone to support them are all factors. It is easy to summarize gang areas being poor, dirty and dangerous, not upper to middle class neighborhoods. But to me it makes since that gangs can be anywhere in any neighborhood. i think that with the right factors a gang could develop anywhere.
I think this clip relates to both the differential association theory and strain theory. These children start off in gangs only to follow their friends, which in turn have a major influence on that child. They are accepted within that specific group, at this point it becomes hard to leave at any circumstance. Strain theory is also present as noted with having/finding a place to fit in and have a group that will protect them/each other. Behaviors are learned from each other(differential association theory).
The Differential Association Theory would say that these children learned their behaviors from others. This theory can be applied to this situation because these children were not spending a lot of time with their parents because their parents were working a lot to help support the family and live in a better neighborhood with less crime and violence and since they were not spending a lot of time with their parents, they were spending more time with their peers which is where a lot of violence is learned. In today's day and age, children are learning violence at an earlier age because it is spreading throughout our school system.
According to the strain theory, these children are partaking in violence to possibly help support their family and their needs or to fit in with their peers and prevent a negative reputation by not participating in these behaviors.
I would have to say that I feel like the differential association theory can mostly describe the behaviors from this video.
Strain theory - relates in the sense that kids want to obtain wealth, status and respect and perhaps feel gang membership is an easier way to come about it than hard work. Additionally, parents feel the strain to achieve success in the process becoming overworked and limiting their guidance/presense/influence on their children. Differential Association - kids are influenced by those around them - become desensitized to the horrors/violence of gang life, they seek bonding and to "fit in", desire to be somebody, gain points and status within their clique. Combining the two theories results in factors/limits that affect people's ability to act impartially and rationally...no one factor (theory) stands alone in explaining crime and deviance.
I really think that gangs are arising from lack of after school activities. Kids today do not have enough positive influences in their lives to keep them busy. Gangs kive kids an outlet to express themselves and a source of entertainment to combat the bordom. In my town there were a couple of kids who claimed to be in a gang and they were they kids who lacked the skills to play traditional sport or be in the play. I think they just watched too many MTV rap videos and were drawn to the glamor of it. lets face it most of these gangster rapers left their old gang life behind them. I think more social programs and curfews need to be instituted in gang areas to limit gag activity. Like if a kid doesn't have a licence or proof that they are 16-18 they should be detained until a parent or gardian can come get them.
Both strain theory and differential association theory relate to deviant behavior associated with gangs. Strain theory is effective in describing why these kids join gangs, and differential association is effective in examining the type of behavior exhibited by these gangs. Strain theory is saturated with the ideal of the American dream. People turn to innovation to achieve this dream due to the fact that it is nearly impossible to attain. Kids grow up surrounded by this, and think that the only way to be happy later in life is to be wealthy. Gangs are glorified in the media, especially in the music industry, and kids think that all gangsters are rich and untouchable. This image makes them more likely to follow this alternative instead of gaining wealth and status through institutional means. Differential association theory helps to explain how gangster behavior is spread throughout neighborhoods. In many urban areas in America, gang violence is more prevalent than in others. Differential association would conclude that this is due to the fact that this behavior is learned through face to face contact, and thus is more common in certain areas because they are learning it from each other. Also, certain gangs have certain characteristics that are learned within the gang. Some may wear their clothes a certain way or commit one type of crime more than another. This is because deviant behavior is learned, and gang members learn it from other gang members. The limitations of both of these theories is that not all kids looking to make money join gangs, and that some adolescents may be surrounded by gang violence, yet may never join in.
1) How does strain theory help to explain the deviant behavior?
The strain theory includes the external factors which contribute to why one commits a crime. This can explain why gangs are being brought into middle class neighborhoods. Some families who work hard to move out of a bad area with gangs into a "nice neighborhood" have children who have already been influenced by a particular gang, and introduce this new way of thinking to the kids in the middle class neighborhood.
2) How does differential association theory help to explain the deviant behavior? Differential association theory can explain how the kids originally from the "nice neighborhood" fall into the gangs by learning the behavior from the kids who came from the "not-so-nice-neighborhood"
3) Considering the limitations of each, is there a way to integrate the theories in order to create a more effective explanation of the deviant behavior?
Yes, there are many factors which cause a crime. External factors and learning from others can contribute to the introduction of gangs into a middle class neighborhood.
I think the clip relates more to differential association theory, rather than strain theory. Although I believe that both theories can be considered for this clip. The parents move to a middle class neighborhood trying to escape danger and extreme deviant behavior or surrounding neighbors, but then they leave their children home alone to work hard to keep their new living arrangements.
I believe that strain theory comes in when trying to describe why the kids end up joining the gangs. Strain theory is associated with the American dream and although so many want to acheive this, many do not. Joining a gang for a kid is like being on an extremely successful sports team or being involved with a very successful job, with gangs though, the dream does not come with money and wealth so much, but the glory with the media and outsiders, so to speak. Kids want the attention and while they're not getting it from their parents, they will go elsewhere, the these children have.
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