ABSTRACT
Control balance theory aims to explain deviance. To the extent that criminal acts are also deviant, which is often the case, it explains them as well. However, because crime and deviance are not synonymous, control balance theory cannot be characterized as a theory of criminal behavior. The theory of control balance explains both the probability of deviant behavior as well as the type of deviance likely to be committed by individuals. Moreover, distinctions among the categories of deviant behavior explained by the theory—predation, exploitation, defiance, plunder, submission, and decadence—hinge on a specific meaning of seriousness. Exploitation includes acts such as corporate price-fixing, profiteering from manufacturing processes that endanger workers, influence peddling by political figures, contract killings, and employment of religious injunctions to solicit financial contributions for the personal use of evangelists. Exploitation encompasses ordinary acts of interpersonal, third-party "social control" when those acts involve coercion, manipulation, or property extraction without regard for the desires or welfare of the exploited.
