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Differential Association And Social Bonding Theory

Differential Association and Social Bonding Theory

Introduction
The purpose of the following study is determine what, if any, the components of social bonding theory and differential association play on the lives of college students. This study is composed of three hypotheses: A) If the amount of commitment to the college goes up will deviance go down?; B) If involvement with the college is increased then does deviance go down?; and C) If a student associates, or attaches, themselves to deviant peers will deviance be the likely result? These answers will be sought after in this study. However, it is important to focus on what results are found in this study as a way to oppose crime and deviance among college students. For example, if it is found out that students in college are more likely to be deviant because of lack of involvement, then it would be a wise move to be more inclusive of all students in student organizations, thus combating deviance among the student population.

Literature Review

"Our initial step is to examine a fundamental theory on the emergence of crime, differential association. The theory of differential association is one of the oldest theories on crime. The fundamental assumption of this theory is the principle of differential association which reads: ‘A person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favorable to the violation of the law over definitions unfavorable to the violation of the law'. Sutherland comments upon this principle in the following manner: ‘It refers to both criminal and anti-criminal associations and has to do with counteracting forces. When persons become criminals, they do so because of contacts with criminal patterns and also because of isolation away from anti-criminal patterns' (Opp, 1989)."
"The principle of differential association itself does not contain any explicit allusion to [the economic] model. However, in discussing other assumptions of his theory, Sutherland draws...