Reflective Piece on Two Sociological Theories Social Sciences Essay

Reflective Piece on Two Sociological Theories
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Control Theory
The essential ideas or concepts in control theory worthy of discussion are that it views crime as a regular occurrence and that crime emanates from the absence of insufficient controls. This is important because it enables the criminal justice system to take a rather distinct viewpoint concerning how human behavioral conduct drives their needs and desires and predisposes them to deviance or, rather, criminality. In this way, the legal system maintains social order by controlling such desires to ensure conformity instead of deviance (Newburn 2017:246). This theory relates to my childhood experiences, whereby I was increasingly inclined to break the rules in the absence of practical controls. In other words, control theory explains my delinquent inclinations due to the absence of rules governing acceptable behavior or internalized norms. Therefore, I mostly engaged in unacceptable behaviors when I thought I would go unpunished (Newburn 2017:247).
I want to challenge the assumption that delinquent recidivism and delinquency emanate from primary groups' failure to exercise social control and offer proper non-delinquent roles to the child to ensure such roles are accepted as per societal expectations acceptable behavior (Newburn 2017:247). The assumption is not sufficient since people are racial beings and have autonomy concerning their behavioral inclinations. Therefore, people still commit crimes even in the presence of appropriate controls (e.g., constitutional rules) in society. The change in thinking and attitude suggested by the control theories is that people should view law-breaking as resulting from varying influences and forces (social "pulls" or pressures") which push individuals towards crime. This also creates the attitude that given all the pressures and opportunities towards criminality in the contemporary world, social pulls protect against participating in c...