Posted: August 13th, 2022

Inherent to Hirschi’s social control theory essay

Essay
Inherent to Hirschi’s social control theory is the presumption that individuals will take part in deviant conduct when their “social bond” to society deteriorates. As such, Hirschi’s notion of social bond contains four elements as described below:
• Attachment- this illustrates the strengths of relationships and bonds that exist within the social environment of a person. Hirschi posits that people with strong attachments to others within society are assumed to be less likely to infringe norms in society. The reverse is true for a person who has a weak attachment.
• Commitment-this denotes to the degree of commitment invested in institutions and social activities. As such, Hirschi presumes that a person who has already invested time, energy and resources in attaining compliant goals has more to lose in case they engage in deviant behavior in comparison to an individual who has invested little commitment in pursuing goals that are socially accepted (Siegel, 2016).
• Involvement-according to this element, a person who is intensively involved in traditional activities (such as work, school, or upbringing of children) has lesser time and chance to take part in deviant conduct. This is in contrast to an individual who is less involved in these activities. For example, an unemployed individual has several hours more free time daily in which to become tempted and engage in deviance
• Beliefs-this denotes to the belief in and validity of the norms and values of the typical society. The more a person internalizes these norms and values, the harder it becomes for him/her to violate them (Siegel, 2016). When people begin to question the meaning of norms, the inherent motivation to abide by them also reduces.
I do believe that these elements have influenced me. I believe that I am a law abiding citizen and that is why I strive to ensure that I do not engage in deviant behavior. I grew up in a community where idleness was discouraged. For this reason, I always ensure that I am busy doing things that benefit my community. Consequently, I hardly have free time to idle around, and this has served to keep me from being tempted to engage in deviant behaviors.

Reference
Siegel, L. J. (2016). Criminology: Theories, patterns and typologies. Cengage Learning.

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