ABSTRACT
Both Box and Braithwaite have significantly sought to rescue the social control theory perspective from its emphasis on the individual – or more accurately family – culpability that had made it so popular with conservative governments both in the UK and the USA during the 1980s. Box (1981, 1987) located his radical reformulation of social control theory within the victimised actor model but it is the notion of ‘reintegrative shaming’ developed by Braithwaite that has been central to the populist socialist perspective that is the focus of the following chapter. Significantly, neither Box nor Braithwaite – like Hirschi whom they sought to improve upon – manage to offer a satisfactory explanation of all crime and criminal behaviour. Hirschi sought subsequently – in collaboration with Michael Gottfredson – to do just that.
