ABSTRACT
Centuries ago, humans explained wrongdoing as demonic possession. By the 1700s, intellectuals came to see deviance and crime as the rational exercise of free will, guided by the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain; the contemporary version of this theory, routine activities theory, stresses that crime and deviance take place when, in a given situation, a motivated offender and a suitable target (something desirable) are present, and a capable guardian is absent. In the early 1920s, sociologists came to regard social disorganization in a particular community as a source of normative violations. Wrongdoing is common in neighborhoods with great instability, since residents are not willing to monitor or control normative and legal violations. Anomie theory argues that societies that encourage material success for all yet restrict access to that success will motivate individuals to engage in one of several deviant adaptations, including innovation, ritualism, rebellion, and retreatism. Learning theories argue that deviance, delinquency, and crime are learned in a fairly straightforward fashion. In contrast, social control theory asserts that, left to our own devices, most of us would tend to violate norms to obtain what we desire; people engage in conventional behavior to the extent that they are attached to conventional others, activities, and beliefs. Self-control theory argues that people violate norms and the law because they lack self-control; such people tend to be self-centered and impulsive, can’t deal with frustration, and expect immediate gratification. No single perspective explains the entire panoply of deviance and crime; each accounts for a piece of puzzle.
