imitation (modeling)
A means by which a person can learn new responses by observing others without performing any overt act or receiving direct reinforcement or reward.
differential association
Sutherland's theory that persons who become criminal do so because of contracts with criminal patterns and isolation from anticriminal patterns.
learning theory
A theory that explains criminal behavior and its prevention with the concepts of positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, extinction, punishment, and modeling, or imitation.
positive reinforcement
The presentation of a stimulus that increases or maintains a response.
negative reinforcement
The removal or reduction of stimulus whose removal or reduction increases or maintains a response.
extinction
A process in which behavior that previously was positively reinforced is no longer reinforced.
punishment
The presentation of an aversive stimulus to reduce a response.
social control theory
A view in which people are expected to commit crime and delinquency unless they are prevented from doing so.
labeling theory
A theory that emphasizes the criminalization process as the cause of some crime.
criminalization process
The way people and actions are defined as criminal.
conflict theory
a theory that assumes that society is based primarily on conflict between competing interest groups that criminal law and the criminal justice system are used to control subordinate groups. Crim is caused by relative powerlessness.
power differentials
The ability of some groups to dominate other groups in society.
relative powerlessness
In conflict theory, the inability to dominate other groups in society.
radical theories
Theories of crime causation that are generally based on a Marxist theory of class struggle.
class struggle
For radical criminologists, the competition among wealthy people and among poor people and between rich and poor people, which causes crime.
left realist
A group of social scientists who argue that critical criminologists need to redirect their attention to fear and the very real victimization experienced by working-class people.
relative deprivation
Refers to inequalities (in resources, opportunities, material goods, etc.) that are defined by a person as unfair or unjust.
peacemaking criminology
An approach that suggests that the solutions to all social problems, including crime, are the transformation of human beings, mutual dependence, reduction of class structures, creation of communities of caring people, and universal social justice.
feminist theory
A perspective on criminality that focuses on women's experiences an seeks to abolish men's control over women's labor and sexuality.
patriarchy
Men's control over women's labor and sexuality.
postmodernism
An area of critical thought that, among other things, attempts to understand the creation of knowledge and how knowledge and language create hierarchy and domination.