ABSTRACT
Cultural learning theories have a commonsense, experiential character, especially when applied to things like gang fighting, drug abuse, or corporate price-fixing. This brief overview shows that differential association, and other cultural learning theories, probably identify an important cause of crime, but it also shows that the theory is limited and incomplete. There are many versions of Marxian, or conflict, theory and most are designed to explain why crime rates vary among societies, not why individuals commit deviance. Like other theories being discussed here, the chapter focuses almost totally on motivation for deviance while ignoring these other variables: variations in the constraining effects of potential sanctions; internalized moral commitments that some people, even in capitalist societies, have; influences of interpersonal social groups; and opportunities for crime/deviance. All of these may interact with deprivation or strain to affect the likelihood of crime/deviance. The chapter also presents an overview of this book.
