Biology Forums - Study Force

Explain the main components of Differential Association theory.

One well-known social learning theory is the principle of differential association, which was created by Edwin Sutherland in 1947. Sutherland proposed that deviance is a normal and learned behavior. The nine key points of his theory is that: (1) crime is learned; (2) it is learned through the process of communication;  (3) it is learned in intimate groups; (4) the learning includes techniques and attitudes; (5) the specific direction of motives and drives is learned from definitions of the legal codes as favorable or unfavorable; (6) a person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favorable to violation of law over definitions unfavorable to violation of the law; (7) differential associations may vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity; (8) the process of learning criminal behavior by association with criminal and anti-criminal patterns involves all of the mechanisms that are involved in any other learning; and (9) while criminal behavior is an expression of general needs and values, it is not explained by those needs and values, since noncriminal behavior is an expression of the same needs and values.
 
This theory may be applicable to explaining many workplace safety violations and deviance. Consider, for example, human error and workplace safety issues.