Social Learning Theories
(these
ideas drawn from Goode, 1994-2008
chapters 3 and 4;
and Pfohl, Images of Deviance and Social Control, 1985. See the disclaimer)
Gabriel Tarde (19th Century): Laws
of Imitation
- Law of Insertion
- Law of Close Association
- Law of Superior by Inferior
- Behavior is Behavior
- Behavior is Learned
- Behavior is learned in face-to-face
interaction with others.
- Learning depends on:
- priority
- intensity
- duration
- Learning involves:
- techniques
- motives
- attitudes
- definitions
- The process of learning criminal
behavior by association with criminal and anticriminal patterns involves
all of the
mechanisms that are involved in any other learning.
- While criminal behavior is an
expression of general needs and values, it is not explained by those general
needs and
values, since non criminal behavior is an expression of the same needs and
values.
- As one learns a preponderance of
definitions favorable to deviance (Norm violation), one will be more
likely to engage in deviance.
Modifications to
Differential Association
Daniel Glaser: Differential Identification
- Not all learning is face-to-face
- Modern technology and communication
Ronald Akers: Differential Reinforcement
- Learning involves the application
of rewards and punishments.
- We tend to associate with groups
or individuals who reward our behavior.
- Individuals engage in behavior,
receive rewards and then repeat behavior.
- We learn to define those behaviors
which are rewarded as positive.
Gresham Sykes and David Matza:
- Some include this approach
in as a "Control theory."
- Deviance and conformity are
not two separate worlds.
- Individuals are neither purely
deviant or purely conformist.
- We drift in and out of deviance,
each successive drift may not take us very far, but we are drifting deeper
into deviant worlds.
- Throughout the process
we encounter "forks in the road, decision points, and varieties of deviant
groups/subcultures.
Conformity=> Drift=>Transition
(normalization)=> Professionalization=> Deviance (transformed identity,
subcultural association, and new normative structure)
Necessary element (cognitive technique)
which allows us to drift back and forth, engage in deviance, and yet maintain
a consistent (positive) self-image:
- Denial of Responsibility (accident)
- Denial of Injury (nobody was really
hurt)
- Denial of Victim (they deserved
it)
- Condemn the Condemners (you accuse
me?)
- Appeal to Higher Loyalties (gang,
God, etc.)
- How vs. Why?
- Learning=> Socialization=>
Subculture=> Identity
- Focus on the social processes
through which one "becomes" a deviant (and that's OK).
Motive for behavior evolves through
participation in the behavior in the company of others.
- Learn the technique of using the
drug
- Learn to identify the effect of
the drug
- Learn to identify the effect as
pleasurable
- Learn to "handle" the
drug
- Learn to acquire the drug
- Learn to neutralize the impact
of social control
URL: http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/200/learnin.html
Owner: Robert O. Keel rok@umsl.edu
References and
Credits for this Page of Notes
Last Updated:
Thursday, March 20, 2008 2:41 PM