Compare and contrast self-control and social control theories.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Both versions of control theory agree that the family is central to the control and developmental mechanisms that affect criminal behavior, and because of this, they have been criticized for neglecting social structure. Critics feel that if the family is so important, the social, economic, and political factors that impede stable and nurturing families should be addressed. However, those factors are not studied by control theorists because they wish to explain the consequences of weak and disrupted families, not why they are disrupted. All theories of behavior neglect some things and focus on others.
A major criticism of self-control theory arises from the claim that it is a general theory meant to explain all crime. Although many crimes (in fact, most common street crimes) are impulsive spontaneous acts, many others are not. Self-control theory has also been criticized for attributing variation in self-control solely to variation in parental behavior and ignoring child effects, but the child development literature is unequivocal that socialization is a two-way street in which parental behavior is shaped by the evocative behavior of the child just as much as the child’s behavior is shaped by its parents.