Choose a theory from the list below and describe how it might be particularly useful to employ from a life course perspective. Would any of the theories not work well in a life course perspective? Why?

Question

a. Differential association/social learning
b. Social control or bonding
c. Self-control
d. Labeling
e. Conflict
f. Critical theories (feminist, peacemaking, and critical race theory)

Answer 1

Researchers concerned with:
o why do people begin to engage in deviance?
o why does deviance persist?
Theoretical approaches:
o Social control theory—fun, easy, and rewarding; lack the social controls and deviance persists because bonds remain weak
o Self-control theory—deviance is stable therefore deviance persists
o Strain theory—initial deviance is a reaction to frustration and anger, deviance persists because the structure of society means certain people remain in stressful conditions
o Social learning theory—definitions favorable to deviance outweigh definitions unfavorable to deviance
o Life course theory—concerned with the tail-end of the deviant career and how and why criminals and other deviants desist, “Getting Out of the Game”