social bond theory
Social Bond Theory Social bond theory was created by Travis Hirschi and it is a form of social control theory. Social control theorists are more interested in explaining why someone is not being deviant rather than why they are. In this theory it is expected that deviance will occur at some point. Hirschi's social bond theory explains that deviane is expected to occur because crime is easy to do; you do not need any special skills to commit crimes. Everyone has the same amount of motivation to participate in deviance. Social bond theory is made up of four bonds; attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief. Each bond is a bond to conformity and that keeps individuals from doing deviant behavior. Hirschi argues that the strength of social control a person has is what differentiates people who committ offenses from those who do not. The first bond is attachment. Attachment is the emotional bond that an individual has. This is usually the bond that a younger person may share with an adult; like the bond between a child and their parent. Usually with a bond like this an individual will stop and think about how someone that they are strongly attached to will react to their actions. If they think that their actions will upset their loved one then often times they are less likely to do deviant behaviors. The next bond is commitment. Individuals are less likely to become deviant because the commitment to conventional society that they have allows them to look at the pros and cons of their future actions on their own. If a person knows that they have a lot going for themself at the moment and one of their actions could potentially mess that up then they will be more likely to conform to the rules and norms of society. Involvement is the third bond and this involves how much an individual participates in conventiaonal activities. Conventional activities include things such as after school sports, focusing on education or working. The more time a person spends