| Hirschi’s social control theory is a theory that explained from the sociologicalview, which is one of the most important theories in the study of contemporarycriminology. This theory is based on Hobbes’ theory that human nature is basicallywicked and Durkheim’s Anomie theory. The theory assumes that the motivationwhich drives people to engage in criminal activities is a part of human nature, andeveryone is a potential criminal; if not controlling their desires, anyone will commit acrime. Therefore, in Hirschi’s opinion, the focus of the study of criminology should be‘Why do not most people crime’. The reason that people don’t crime is that there is asource of strength, which can restrain them from criminal activities; the reason thatpeople commit a crime is that the strength is weak. Hirschi calls strength as ‘socialbond’, which decides that people commit a crime or not. Social bond consists of thefollowing four aspects: attachment, commitment, involvement and belief. Attachmentrefers to the level of psychological affection one has for prosocial others andinstitutions. Commitment relates to pursuing the traditional value goals and lookingforward to the success. Involvement relates to the opportunity costs associated withhow people spend their time. Belief refers to the degree to which one adheres to thevalues associated with behaviors that conform to the law. As a result, in Hirschi’s view,from the above four aspects of enhancing personal contact with the community willbe able to achieve the effect of crime control. I believe that, there is certainone-sidedness in Hirsch’s social control theory, such as the lack of scientific basis forthe assumption of the person’s motivation for the crime, the view that there is a highercrime rates in the groups is one-sided, etc. But there exist some very importantvalues.of the theory. This theory has made great contribution in criminology, And also,it gives us a lot of references and guidances in terms of our country’s crimeprevention and control: on the one hand, we can strengthen the connection betweenthe individual and the whole society to prevent and control the crime in the macrolevel—strengthening the attachment, being devoted to the commitment, deepening theinvolvement and enhancing the attachment; one the other hand, we can strengthen theconnection between the individual and family, school and community in themicro-level to prevent and control the crime, including strengthening the education of family, and building harmonious family relations; concerning about the growth of theunderachievers, and creating a good atmosphere for education; enriching culturalcommunity activities, making the community environment more stable. |
