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Essay / Summary of individual and social explanations of...
Although social learning and social control theories address the socialization process, social learning theory holds that humans are inherently good and therefore learn delinquent behavior through the socialization process, as is the case for any other behavior (McNamara 2014: pp. 115). Social learning theory holds that people become involved in criminal activity when the reasons, called definitions, to commit a crime outweigh the reasons to refrain from committing it, which is normally determined by the social affiliations of the individual (McNamara 2014: p. 118). For example, if a teenager associates with criminals and learns criminal behavior (including its justifications and rewards) from them, then he is likely to engage in criminal behavior because he will have more definitions for it than against it, depending on theory (McNamara 2014: p. 118). On the other hand, social control theory argues that humans are inherently evil and therefore must be "resocialized" to create stronger community influences to reduce the hedonistic tendency to engage in crime – or driven to comply with formal and informational sanctions (McNamara 2014: p. 120). The theory explains that people engage in criminal behavior due to low self-control and weak attachment to “society and those close to them” (McNamara 2014: p. 121). For example, when a child does not have strong connections to family, friends, or school engagement, they are more likely to engage in delinquent behavior because they have fewer connections to