Introduction

This part of the book is essentially concerned with psychological explanations of crime, but a review of sociological approaches is also necessary and is attempted in this chapter. Inevitably, it will be nonspecialist, but adds an important dimension to the view of crime usually taken by psychologists, one which is largely confined to learning experiences and their cognitive consequences, and to individual differences in predisposition to criminal behavior. Instead, sociological approaches tend to emphasize external influences which affect large numbers of people. They deal with the broad brush of economic, cultural and social influences rather than the fine grain of individual behavioral experiences.

The chapter falls into two sections. The first covers a number of sociological theories of crime, from the “main-stream” strain and control theories to the more “radical” social labeling and Marxist approaches. The theory of differential association, which emphasizes learning and cognition, links up with the next chapter which gives a contemporary psychological account of these variables as they apply to the explanation of crime.

The second section focuses on some important current areas of social and economic research into crime, emphasizing empirical findings rather than theoretical issues.