8 How Do Our Relationships Help Us? Social Control Theory

Jaana A. Haaja

Learning Objectives

  • Introduce control theories in criminology by explaining the core ideas of Social Control Theory and how social bonds encourage conformity and reduce delinquent behaviour.
  • Learn about the four elements of the social bond—attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief—and how each helps explain why individuals refrain from crime across different stages of life.
  • Explore the strengths, limitations, and contemporary applications of Social Control Theory, including its relevance for understanding modern crime issues and differences across social and cultural contexts.

Before You Begin

  • Who are the people or institutions in your life whose opinions matter most to you, and how do they influence the choices you make in your everyday behaviour?
  • Think about a time when you chose not to do something you wanted to do (or could have done) because it might have disappointed someone important to you. What role did that relationship play in your decision?
  • How do you spend most of your time during a typical week, and how might being busy with certain activities limit opportunities to engage in trouble or risky behaviour?

INTRODUCTION

It’s very easy to joke with your friends about how you don’t behave in anti-social ways because you do not want to face the consequences, like losing your job or being arrested. But for most of us, the reasons that we behave in pro-social ways are probably not because of the threat of punishment (even if we don’t want to call our family from a jail cell). If pressed, many of us would admit that we behave well because we value the relationships that we have with the people and institutions around us and want to continue to have positive interactions with them. This applies to lots of different behaviours: we treat our friends well so that they treat us well in return and the friendship can continue. It is this perspective that is the basis of what we call control theories. This set of theories argues that individuals are motivated to conform because they have strong emotional bonds with society and the people around them.

Control theories come from a sociological perspective that is centred around understanding why human beings conform to social expectations when there are more fun things to do, like commit crime. Like classical theories of crime (see Chapter 4), control theories assume that individuals are hedonistic. As a criminological perspective, control theories consider all individuals capable of deviant behaviour because deviance is an inherent component of human nature (self-interest) that requires no external stimulus, such as motivation (Hirschi, 1969). So instead of asking why people commit crime, control theories ask why people don’t commit crime.

One answer comes from the work of Professor Travis Hirschi[1] and his Social Control Theory. To help answer the question of why people don’t commit crime, Hirschi (1969) proposed that an individual’s bonds to conventional society serve as insulation from crime and motivate people to behave in ways that help strengthen and reinforce those bonds. The contribution of Hirschi’s social control theory in explaining deviancy has been significant in contributing to a better understanding of criminal behaviour and policy responses to crime.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

The concept of social control as an external influence on individuals’ behaviour and actions has been discussed throughout the centuries by philosophers, sociologists, and criminologists (See Table 1: Social Control Theory Timeline).

1651 17th Century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes publishes book Leviathan that proposes conformity is not an inherent aspect of human behaviour.
1950s Albert Reiss (1951) proposes that adolescents engaged in deviant behaviour was the outcome of the absence of social and personal controls.

Jackson Toby (1957) coined the concept of "stake in conformity" to explain an adolescent’s decision to not engage in deviant behaviour was a result of having too much to lose (stakes).

F. Ivan Nye (1958) proposed that the role of family and socialisation through direct, indirect, and internal controls influences an adolescent’s decision to engage in deviant behaviour.

1960s American criminologist Walter Reckless (1961) proposes containment theory, which argues that individuals are pushed and pulled into deviant behaviour with inner and outer containments reducing the likelihood of an individual committing acts of delinquency.
1969 American criminologist Travis Hirschi publishes Causes of Delinquency, a book that introduces social control theory which states that four elements of social bonds (attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief) influence an individual’s likelihood of committing crime and deviance based on the strength of bonds to prosocial institutions and people.
1970-1990 Hirschi’s Social Control Theory dominates crime and deviance research.
1990 Professors Michael Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi publish A General Theory of Crime, and propose that a key element of criminality is the absence of self-control, which is a stable individual level trait. Individuals with high self-control are able to consider the long-term consequences of their actions while those with low self-control cannot. See Chapter 9 for a more in-depth discussion about A General Theory of Crime and the importance of self-control in criminological theories.
1993 Professors Robert Sampson and John Laub introduced an age-graded theory of social control, a life-course theory of crime that proposes criminality may not be constant across an individual’s life due to environmental factors and opportunities for change. See Chapter 12 for a more in-depth discussion of how this theory is a popular developmental theory of criminality.
2000s Onwards Hirschi’s Cocial Control Theory remains a significant and widely researched theory within criminology. Researchers continue to test the application and limitations of Social Control Theory that contribute to debates and refinement of the theory.

Social Control Theory remains a key theoretical perspective within criminology.

These ideas have their beginning during the Age of Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason, a cultural movement that began in Europe in the 1600s. In his 1651 publication Leviathan, English philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) argued that individual humans are very variable in what they desire and because of this, those desires will often be in competition with each other. When that happens, there is no inherent reason for humans to work together and as a result, there will quickly be violence and war. But Hobbes argued that despite having different ideas of what they want, humans have similar ideas about what they do not want: they do not want violence and death. And the only way to save oneself from a certain violent death is to work in collaboration with others so that everyone’s needs can be met. This is known as the social contract, or an agreement between individuals and the government that outlines the obligations and rules of behaviour (Hirschi, 1969; Hobbes, 1651). It is this social contract that allows the government to put controls on individual behaviour. These controls are traditionally in the form of laws and are mutually agreed upon by most members of society.

While originally conceived of as a general explanation of how societies form and how government controls behaviour, several sociologists have adapted the original idea of the social contract to better examine why it is that some individuals conform, or not, to society’s rules or norms. Explanations range from an individual’s level of self (or personal) control to their level of connection to socially accepted behaviour. Several of these scholars, such as Professors Albert Reiss[2], F. Ivan Nye, and Walter Reckless, contributed to our understanding of what we now call control theories in criminology. Their contributions to research give us the base by which all control theories are built on. Also influential has been the work of Professor Jackson Toby[3], a sociologist who coined the term stakes in conformity (Toby, 1957) Toby proposed that when an adolescent believed that they had a lost to lose (a stake in conformity), they are more likely to behave in a pro-social and conforming way. Adolescents who have low stakes in conformity and who reside in communities that were not committed to following societal norms were more likely to engage in criminal activity (Toby, 1957).

The concept of stakes in conformity is an important one to control theories because it helps explains why some people conform even if there is no obvious benefit to it. The benefit is related to the relationships that one forms with others. This idea has been expanded upon by the American sociologist Professor Travis Hirschi (1935-2017). In 1969, Hirschi published his seminal work on social control theory in the Causes of Delinquency[4] (referred to as ‘Causes’ henceforth) (1969). Causes is cited as being a defining moment in criminology due to Hirschi’s critique of existing delinquency theories and the detailed explanation and rigorous testing of his hypothesis using self-report data from the Richmond Youth Project (Wiatrowski et al., 1981). Hirschi has always acknowledged the influence of early control theorists on his work. However, unlike the criminological control theories proposed during the 1950s to 1960s, Hirschi (1969) maintained a sociological perspective that considered social bonds (ongoing social relationships) to be the most important factor that differentiated an individual engaged in deviant behaviour from those that conformed (Costello & Laub, 2020; Hirschi, 1969).

While the literature frequently uses the term Social Bond Theory, this is considered by Hirschi to be a misrepresentation of the theory, because it overemphasises the social bonds components of the theory. Social bonds are just one aspect of the overall theory (Laub, 2002).

THEORY DESCRIPTION

The work of Professor Travis Hirschi has been the most influential control theory in criminology. Hirschi’s Social Control Theory explains crime through a process of conformity. Individuals form social bonds with each other. These social bonds form a ‘glue’ that holds relationships together and when people are bonded to each other, and to conventional society, they will conform to keep these relationships strong. (Hirschi, 1969). This glue, or these social bonds, are the motivation that people need to behave in socially approved ways. When individuals have weak social bonds, they will commit crime and deviance.

An important thing to understand about social bonds is that they are not unidimensional. Hirschi theorised that social bonds are made up of four elements: attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief. These elements work together to provide the socialisation and motivation necessary for an individual to ‘bond’ to society and conform (Wiatrowski et al., 1981). The strength of each of these elements (as social bonds) reduces the chance that an individual will engage in delinquent behaviour. In criminology, we often consider each of these elements separately, as it helps us better understand the different ways that social bonds can connect people and reduce crime and delinquency (Hirschi,1969). The bonds act as a control mechanism, supporting conformist and pro-social behaviour. We discuss the four elements of the social bond below.

The Elements of the Social Bond

Attachment

Attachment is considered the primary element of a social bond because it is related to the initial caregiving that a child receives. Attachment is the emotional (affectionate) tie that an individual forms to their family (parents), school (teachers) and friends (peers) (Hirschi, 1969). When we have strong attachments, we care about the opinions (respect and approval) of those people that we are attached to, so we are more likely to behave in prosocial ways. This means that strong attachments between individuals and social groups (parental figures, teachers, peers) will result in a lower likelihood of delinquency. However, when attachment is weak or absent, individuals will be more likely to engage in crime and delinquency. When people have low attachment to significant others, they are free to engage in crime and deviance because they will not feel remorse or guilt over their actions. The main types of attachment that we often research in criminology are attachment to parents/parental figures, attachment to school, and attachment to friends.

It is important to note that the attachment element of social control should not be confused with Attachment Theory, a psychological perspective developed by John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth (1991).

Commitment

Commitment refers to the investment an individual makes with their time, energy, and resources in conventional activities, such as education and work. If you are reading this because you are taking a university course, you are someone with commitment to conventional activities and goals. This is the rational component of the social bond. Individuals who are committed to conventional activities and conventional goals are unwilling to risk the time and resources that they have invested into those activities, so they are less likely to engage in crime and delinquency.  An individual’s commitment to conventional activities also includes planning for long-term success. Commitment can be viewed as an aspect of ‘the passage to adulthood’ for adolescents that incorporates an individual’s commitment to setting of goals (personal, educational, or career) to help achieve future aspirations (Hirschi, 1969). Engaging in delinquency could result in negative consequences that will affect an adolescent trying to achieve their goals. Being committed to conventional activities acts as a form of social control for individuals, since they are more likely to avoid anything that could keep them from meeting their goals.

Involvement

Involvement is the time and energy individuals spend on conventional activities, like sports, clubs, and hobbies/interests. One reason that theorists like Hirschi believe that involvement in these activities reduces delinquency is because adolescents involved in prosocial activities may be less likely to find time to commit delinquent and deviant acts (Hirschi, 1969; Wiatrowski et al., 1981). If you had an after-school job, played a sport, or participated in a school club, you can probably remember how busy – and tired! – you were a lot of the time. The more involved someone is, the less opportunity they have to behave poorly. Also important is that by becoming involved in conventional activities, individuals are reinforcing their attachment and commitment to prosocial people and activities.

An important sidenote is that research on the element of involvement is mixed, with some researchers arguing that young people who are very involved in conventional activities are more likely to meet others who are engaged in delinquency and have more opportunities to commit crime. Paid employment, for example, may increase the opportunities that a young person has to engage in delinquency, by introducing them to older youth and adults who can be a bad influence (Costello & Laub, 2020). Research on student athletes also suggests that there is no difference in the levels of delinquency between athletes and non-athletes (Spruit et al., 2016). It does lend itself to an interesting question of what kind of involvement matters to keep young people out of trouble.

Belief

Belief is an individual's investment in obeying social rules and norms, including laws. Individuals with strong attachments who accept and endorse the moral validity of laws will be less likely to violate them (Costello & Laub, 2020). When an individual has low or absent attachment, there is a higher likelihood that they will commit delinquent acts because they do not believe in the validity of societal rules.

Hirschi has said that each element of the social bond can separately explain the reason why a person complies will laws and social norms instead of engaging in deviancy or delinquency. Social control theory also suggests that the stronger the relationship, or ties, that an individual has to one element of the social bond, the more likely they are to have a strong relationship with another element of the social bond (Hirschi, 1969). Social bonds work together to control individuals because people are less likely to behave in ways that would harm their strong social relationships.

APPLICATION OF SOCIAL CONTROL THEORY

Applying Social Control Theory Across Life Stages

Earlier in this chapter, we pointed out that Social Control Theory has been extended and advanced to help understand crime and delinquency at all stages of life. The work of Professors John Laub and Robert Sampson and their contributions to understanding crime over the life course are detailed in Chapter 12. Similarly, Hoffmann and Dufur (2018) and Nader and Robinson (2023) have suggested that Hirschi’s Social Control Theory provides a valuable framework for understanding the evolution of the elements of social bonds at different stages of life, including adolescence, emerging adulthood, and adulthood.

Social bonds during adolescence

Adolescence represents a crucial phase for establishing and reinforcing social connections that are key to encouraging desistance from deviant behaviour. During this stage of life, social bonds are more centred around immediate social environments. Strong attachment to family, teachers and school, and commitment to conventional goals like academic success and involvement in prosocial activities have been found to play a significant role in desistance during adolescence.

Examining the Relationship Between Student Perceptions of School Climate and Self-Reported General Delinquency 

Isaac Zavelsky, BCCJ(Hons)

Watch Isaac discuss this research and his findings. Video Transcript [Microsoft Word]

When considering youth crime and delinquency, there is a multitude of ways to examine this topic. For this thesis however, there was a motivation to look at how our experiences in school – including things like how well we get along with teachers – can play a role in influencing a person to not commit a crime. Studies that examine this phenomenon describe this as measuring a person’s perception of ‘school climate’. This might seem unimportant, until you consider that after the family, schools are typically the second biggest influencing factor in social and cognitive development, and as a person grows up, schools serve as a gateway to understanding how to interact with the community.

For the project, it was decided that research from a previous study would be re-used. This practice of revisiting existing data for a new research project is known as a secondary analysis. The original study involved 540 students in grade 9 who answered a questionnaire. For this thesis, after excluding students who didn’t answer every question, this thesis had a sample size of 405 students. 

The research design for this thesis was developed into two components. The first component involved a comparison test; categorising students who scored either below, or above, the medium score for school climate perception. These two groups were then analysed on a variety of factors including their gender, cultural background, and their home environment. Among these factors was comparisons made between the average scores for family-attachment (a measure for positive relationships with parents) and the average score for self-reported delinquency (a score based on the number of activities a student admitted to doing). The second component of the research design involved an Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression test. This is a type of statistics test that helped determine what effectiveness school climate had in reducing delinquency scores, before introducing other factors to determine the level of effectiveness after accounting for things like demographic factors, household environment factors and family attachment.  

Results from the comparison test showed students with higher perceptions of school climate had lower reported self-delinquency scores and were also found to have higher reported rates of family attachment. The regression test meanwhile determined that family attachment was the only factor tested that changed how effective a positive school climate was in reducing the likelihood of a student offending. Family attachment was likewise shown to have a comparable level of influence in reducing the likelihood of offending. This compares to factors like gender and cultural background, which were found to have no significant impact. 

These findings concluded that if someone has good perceptions of school (and also have high attachment to their family), they are less likely to commit crime. These results might appear obvious at first, but there are implications that help illustrate the importance of school for children who have less than ideal family attachments. These results prove that school climate remains especially important, not just for the sake of their learning experience, but also for developing the positive social influences that help guide them away from crime and delinquency. In the real-world; the ideal long-term crime prevention program starts with early intervention in the cognitive and emotional development of a child, and schools are often the best platform to facilitate this when other social influences are unsuited or unavailable. 

With the current focus on youth crime, understanding how a person became influenced to commit crime is an important consideration, because it helps us understand how to prevent it from happening again. It further helps us understand that it is possible that a good schooling experience might be able to overcome a deficit of positive social influence when a child comes from a socially poor family background. This thesis helps reassert the value of informal social control theory when understanding the importance of pro-social influences to reduce delinquency.   

Social bonds during emerging adulthood

Emerging adulthood is a transition phase where young people gain independence from adolescence without fully entering adulthood. This stage of life is characterised by the exploration of personal values and worldviews and is considered crucial for establishing commitments and beliefs within society. Strong attachment to positive peers, commitment to higher education or career goals, and involvement in the workforce are social bonds that are significant to desistance during emerging adulthood.

Social bonds during adulthood

As individuals progress from emerging adulthood to later adulthood, the development and deepening of social bonds are essential in facilitating the transition away from deviant behaviour. During this stage of life, strong marital relationships and family ties, cohabitation, commitment to legal employment, and involvement in community groups play a more significant role in desistance.

New Crimes and New Places

Social Control Theory can also be applied in other ways. One recent way that it has been incorporated into the Australasian context is in better understanding youth radicalisation. In their study of Australian youth who were identified as having been radicalised into varying terrorist organisations (including Islamist, far-right, and far-left ideologies), researchers at the University of Queensland discovered that even if young people have strong attachments to their families, they could still be radicalised by friends or from interactions online (Cherney et al., 2022). This points to the importance of how all four elements of the social bond interact and how some relationships may be more important than others. For instance, the University of Queensland researchers found that romantic partners were strongly involved in radicalisation, which suggests that these relationships may have more importance in late adolescence and thus may be more likely to affect behaviour in young people (Cherney et al., 2022).

Researchers have also examined the role of social bonds in explaining delinquency in various cultures around the world as well. This is very important because the success of Social Control Theory in controlling delinquent and criminal behaviour is based on what the local social norms of a community are, so different communities may have different outcomes. In French Canada (Montreal) for example, there is some evidence that attachment to school is less important for high school youth (Caplan & LeBlanc, 2011). In Japan, however, research has shown that when classrooms are high in delinquent behaviour, young people report lower attachment to school (Kinoshita et al., 2024). Also, the relationship between social bonds and delinquency is most likely different for boys and girls (Booth et al., 2008). In a Japanese sample, delinquency predicts lack of attachment for girls but not for boys; this is the opposite of what we have seen in North American samples (Cernkovich & Giordana, 1992). One explanation for this is that there are strict social rules for Japanese school children and those who do not follow the rules will be socially ostracised, especially girls, so there is a lot of motivation to behave like everyone else (Kinoshita et al., 2024).

CRITICISMS OF SOCIAL CONTROL THEORY

One of the biggest criticisms of Social Control Theory is that for it to be true, all individuals must be pre-disposed to want to commit crime or other deviant acts. Think back to Chapter 1 and the discussion about the assumptions about human nature; control theories assume that humans are hedonistic, or only after the pursuit of pleasure (Chriss, 2007). As a result, society needs different mechanisms and social bonds are one way that we control people. A major criticism of this assumption is that there are many people who commit crime but also have very strong relationships with pro-social others. After all, people are complicated and not always ‘all good’ or ‘all bad.’ As a result, critics argue that social bonds may not be as important as some researchers suggest.

THE FUTURE OF SOCIAL CONTROL THEORY

Hirschi’s Social Control Theory is an influential and enduring theory that continues to be heavily cited, refined and applied to different contexts, populations, and emerging crime types. Over time, the theory has evolved to explain not just individuals, but groups. Additionally, we now see it being applied and refined to better understand behaviour across different settings and environments (Costello & Laub, 2020). Social Control Theory has demonstrated its adaptability by successfully being applied to contemporary crime issues such as cybercrime, terrorism, and crimes spanning international borders. This is in part has been a result of the contributions of researchers and scholars in refining the theory and empirically testing Social Control Theory in different contexts and with different crimes.

CONCLUSION

This chapter has provided an overview of Hirschi's Social Control Theory, considered to be one of the most influential criminological theories of the 20th century that posits that the role of social bonds is instrumental in preventing delinquent behaviour. It was influenced by earlier social and criminological control philosophers and researchers who considered social control a key element of preventing anti-social behaviour. Hirschi presented his theoretical perspective in Causes in combination with his critical critique of strain and cultural deviance assumptions, and the testing of his own hypothesis using self-report data from the Richmond Youth Project. Of particular merit is the fact that even after all this time, it is a theoretical approach that can still meet modern challenges in criminology and delinquency.

Check Your Knowledge

 

Discussion Questions

  1. Which element of Hirschi’s social bond (attachment, commitment, involvement, or belief) do you think is most important in preventing delinquent behaviour, and why? Which element do you think is most important to your behaviour?
  2. How might changes in a person’s life, such as leaving school, starting work, forming a romantic relationship, or becoming a parent, strengthen or weaken their social bonds?
  3. Social Control Theory assumes that people are naturally capable of deviant behaviour and that social bonds help restrain this behaviour. Do you agree with this assumption? Why or why not? Discuss whether strong social bonds always prevent crime, using examples from the chapter. Can you think of any in your own life?

 

REFERENCES

Booth, J.A., Farrell, A., & Varano, S.P. (2008). Social control, serious delinquency, and risky behavior. Crime & Delinquency, 54, 423 - 456. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128707306121

Caplan, A., & Leblanc, M. (1985). A cross-culture verification of a social control theory. International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, 9(1-2), 123-138. 10.1080/01924036.1985.9688826

Cernkovich, S. A., & Giordano, P. C. (1992). School bonding, race and delinquency. Criminology, 30(2), 261–291. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.1992.tb01105.x

Cherney, A., Belton, E., Norham, S. A. B., & Milts, J. (2022). Understanding youth radicalisation: an analysis of Australian data. Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, 14(2), 97-119. https://doi.org/10.1080/19434472.2020.1819372

Costello, B. J., & Laub, J. H. (2020). Social control theory: The legacy of Travis Hirschi's Causes of Delinquency. Annual Review of Criminology, 3, 21-41. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-criminol-011419-041527

Criss, J. J. (2007). The functions of the social bond. The Sociological Quarterly, 48(4), 689-712. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40220048

Gottfredson, M. R., & Hirschi, T. (1990). A General Theory of Crime. Stanford University Press.

Hirschi, T. (1969). Causes of Delinquency. Berkeley: Univ. Calif. Press

Hoffmann, J. P., & Dufur, M. J. (2018). Family social capital, family social bonds, and juvenile delinquency. American Behavioral Scientist, 62, 1525 - 1544. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764218787020

Kinoshita, M., Kawabata, Y. & Onishi, A. The longitudinal association between school bonding and delinquency among adolescents. Current Psychology, 43, 28416–28428 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-024-06483-7

Nader, E. S., & Davies Robinson, A. (2023). Reconceptualizing social bonds for emerging adults. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 50(5), 708-728. https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548231152187

Spruit, A., van Vugt, E., van der Put, C., van der Stouwe, T., & Stams, G-J. (2016). Sports participation and juvenile delinquency: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 45, 655–671. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-015-0389-7

Toby, J. (1957). Social disorganization and stake in conformity: Complementary factors in the predatory behavior of hoodlums. Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, 48, 12–17. https://doi.org/10.2307/1140161

Wiatrowski, M. D., Griswold, D. B., & Roberts, M. K. (1981). Social control theory and delinquency. American Sociological Review, 46 (5), 525-541. https://doi.org/10.2307/2094936

 

 

 

  1. Interested in learning more about Professor Travis Hirschi and his contributions to criminology? Check out his interview with a student panel as part of the Oral History Project of the American Society of Criminology. ↵
  2. Interested in learning more about Professor Albert Reiss and his contributions to criminology? Check out his interview with Professor Lawrence Sherman as part of the Oral History Project of the American Society of Criminology. ↵
  3. Interested in learning more about Professor Jackon Toby and his contributions to criminology? Check out his interview with Dr. Brendan Dooley as part of the Oral History Project of the American Society of Criminology. ↵
  4. Causes of Delinquency was Travis Hirschi’s doctoral dissertation! That means it was one of the first major things he wrote in his career! But don’t worry, most students who are working on their doctorate degree are not expected to come up with a whole new theory that is then still used generations later. That’s an incredibly rare feat! ↵
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