The Role Of Socialization In Crime

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The social learning theory proposes that crime is learned through the ongoing process of socialization, and is especially important during young childhood. Different important social units that influence a child’s behavior are their family, school, peers, and community. There are some important predictors of crime that can be discussed from a social-learning perspective, including gender, and delinquency. The four major concepts of the social learning theory are: differential association, differential reinforcement/punishment, definitions, and imitation (Skinner, & Fream 1997).
Differential association refers how people exposed to different social environments have the opportunity to observe, and learn different behavior (Skinner, & Fream 1997). Children who are exposed to a behavior are given the opportunity to observe, and imitate a behavior and are therefore more likely to adopt that behavior than children who are not exposed to it. Children who are not exposed to certain behaviors will not be able to imitate them. Therefore a person who has been exposed to an environment that incorporates crime is more likely to commit a crime in their lifetime than a person that has not been exposed to an atmosphere that includes crime.
Imitation is important when a behavior is first observed because one way to learn, and incorporate a behavior is to practice it in reality or in fantasy (Skinner, & Fream 1997). Children are likely to imitate a range of behaviors that they observe to test them out. The behavior can be learned through modelling, internalizing, and conforming to behavior that is deemed favourable. A child that observes criminal behavior may practice it in fantasy, or imitate it in reality. This rehearsal causes the behavior to be stored in the memory of the child and therefore becomes retrievable in the right circumstances. Behavior is considered favourable if it produces a desirable reaction, or a favourable consequence.
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