Social Bonding and its Influence

This assignment delves into the concept of social bonding and its multifaceted influence across different domains. It examines prominent theories explaining social bonding, including Social Learning Theory, Social Exchange Theory, and the Brain Opioid Theory of Social Attachment. The analysis further explores the implications of social bonding in areas like crime and deviance, online learning, and business relationships. Examples from research papers are provided to illustrate these theoretical concepts and their practical applications.

Describe Hirschi’s four
elements of
social bonding. How
does his social bonding
theory

INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
The core concept of social bonding is to integrate with society and ties a bond up a bond
with workplace as well as a community. Basically, social bond theory is an outline that is used
by criminologists and sociologists in order to explain why an individual would choose to engage
himself in criminal behaviour (Akers and Jensen, 2011). In order to address such a complicated
and confusing issue, Hirschi has determined four major aspects which social scientists at a
conclusion. Along with this, in the sociological sub-field of criminology, social bond theory is
often used to understand criminal behaviours. Although, the present coursework will be defined
main elements of Social Bond Theory and how it is differ from self control theory.
MAIN BODY
All Societies have their own ways to promote stability, order and predictability in social
life. Without putting any social control, social life would be impulsive even chaotic. Although,
there are two types of social control, i.e. internal and external. In which internal social control
lies within an individual and is developed during socialisation; they are practising internal social
control when they can as per conscience, like – a person do something because it is right thing to
do something. On the other hand, the procedure of socialisation cannot ensure that all people will
confirm at the same time, thus external social control must be also present. It is based upon
social approvals, rewards, punishments which are created in order to inspire desired behaviour in
an individual ( Akers, 2017 ).
TarvisHirschi’s social bonding theory is one of the most popular criminological theories
which was firstly presented in 1969. Hirschi assessed that why people does not commit crime,
then he analysed that crime is common between humans with weakened bonds to local
communities. Along with this, theory assumes that people have capacity to be delinquent;
preventing most persons from involving in delinquency is a ”bonding” to conventional society.
Social bonding theory involves physical and sexual abuse are thought to contribute to
delinquency, children of teen mothers are at higher risk, poor grades and negative behaviour of
teacher likely to be delinquent and religiosity assist to prevent criminal behaviour or not. The
theory is divided into three parts, such as-
 Gender – Girls are less delinquent rather than boys because of attachment to family and
school.
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 Race and class – inconsistent findings in research traditionally have stronger bonds,
social class and parental disciplining.
 Age – The bonding theory assists to explain why criminality decreases age of
adolescence (Samek and Rueter, 2011) .
TarvisHirschi has described four elements of social bonding that are discussed as under: -
Four aspects of social bonding theory –
Attachment – It entails with a person’s sensitivity as well as interest in others. Attachment can
be with parents, teachers, friends, family and peers. Attachment with parents is most crucial;
affection deters criminal activities and strength is rely on the depth and quality of interaction
between parent and child. In addition, attachment alludes to the run of the mill passionate cling
to someone else, for example, between the parent and the kid. Now and then, connection has a
tendency to emerge from an advantageous linkage between an individual and his/her family,
companions, and in addition common foundations. Hirschi postulated that healthy and stable
attachments are critical to adherence to societal norms, which often discourage deviant
behaviours ( Nijdam‐Jones and et. al., 2015).
Involvement -Higher involvement in predictable activities leaves little time of illegal or
unethical behaviour. Engagement in those activities which promotes interest of society, for
example- a busy person doing conventional things has little time for deviant activities. People
who are involved in unconventional activities, i.e. drinking, smoking get delinquency prone.
Apart from this, investigated incidence of alcohol use by college students, relationship among
social bond variables, and ability of social bond variables to predict alcohol use. Great
involvement accomplished by connecting with a man in affirmed exercises or regular
undertakings guarantees that he or she doesn't discover time to spend on freak practices and
exercises, for example, medicate mishandle ( Jensen and Akers, 2017). This component
decreases the probability of a degenerate conduct by lessening the measure of time accessible for
abnormality. Hirschi affirmed that the premise behind commitment construct is the relationship
between the level of commitment and the propensity for deviance.
Commitment – It encompasses with time, efforts and energy expends in conventional lines of
acts, like saving money for future and getting an education or degree ( Vitak, Ellison and
Steinfield, 2011). Along with this, commitment with conventional lines of action, i.e. vocational
aspirations, aspirations and educational expectations. Commitment to conventional values, i.e.
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striving to get a good education and refuse to think alcohol and cruise around is known as
indicative of conventional behaviour.
Belief – People who live in same social settings are often share common moral values or beliefs,
they many adhere to such values as sharing, admiration for the legal code, sensitivity rights of
others. Furthermore, beliefs comprises with assent to the society’s value system in terms of
respect of its laws and for the people as well as institutions which enforce them. Delinquents and
non delinquents are shared similar beliefs towards society ( Cook and et. al., 2013 ).
Therefore, it can be said that Social bonding theory is a control theory built upon the
assumption that people are inherently self‐interested; therefore, it seeks to explain why some
people refrain from crime rather than engage in crime. The theory posits that offending behavior
is caused by weakened or broken social bonds with law‐abiding people and institutions
Evaluation of Social bonding theory: -
 Relationship between social bonding and delinquency pretty weak.
 Explains minor offending more so than serious offending.
 Casual order
 Difficult to discriminate between commitment and involvement.
On contrary to this , it has been identified that self control theory is another approach that
was coined by popular criminologist Travis Hirschi and Michael Gottfredson for explaining the
behaviour of an individual. Basically , this framework is also known as a general theory of crime
which highlight the absence of self control in an individual due to criminal behaviour. It means if
a person is not having regulation on his/her mind or nature then they might do wrongful act
either by harming others and so on (Machin and Dunbar, 2011). Therefore, these two theories are
totally same but differ in some extent. For example; social bond theory of Hrischi is all about
showing the factors which helps in creating a positive relations with other member in order to
create a friendly relations with others. Whereas, self control of crime is all about highlighting the
criminal behaviour of a person which is always engaged in doing inappropriate acts that will
create a negative environment across the societal place.
Hence, while comparing both the theories it is identified that Hrischi approach of social
bond is most appropriate and suitable framework which helps in enhancing the image of
common people by encouraging them towards positivity. Along with this their main four
elements are also playing major role in improving the nature of a person in order to promote a
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peaceful environment at marketplace. In fact, its all about creating a social connection with loves
ones for living in a community without facing any problem ( Cheng and Zhai, 2013 ).
Throughout the study it is analysed that both the approaches are distinctive in nature as
one is engaged in creating social relations whereas another one is identifying the criminal
behaviour of a person. As a result creation of social bond approach is most appropriate due to
numerous of factors which is discussed as follows:-
Create friendly relations:- first or foremost elements which shows the effectiveness of
theory is that it helps in maintaining the positive connection in entire society. It brings a
cooperative nature amongst members and promote equality at societal place.
Reduce conflicts:- Another factor is that possibilities of mistakes , errors and contentions
between various members get minimized due to social bonds (Sayette and et. al., 2012).
Peaceful surrounding:- Effective and attractive surrounding automatically helps in
various situations such as; number of tourist also prefer the stable nation in order to spend their
quality time without any disturbance. Along with this national income can also maximized due to
promotion of social connection.
Economy develop:- if every members or society are living in a cooperative way without
creating any societal problem then it automatically enhance the economy of a nation. As a result
criminal get declines, cases regarding wrongful conducts get reduced and so on. It means almost
every problems can easily overcome ( Beckes and Coan, 2011).
Productivity enhancement :- As per this element it has been determined that positive
relations with members are useful in creating a very effective relations within employees
working at multinational companies. It helps in attaining their organizational objectives in a
minimum time period by satisfying the need of domestic as well as foreign clients.
By going through above factors it is proven that social bond theory is one of the most
suitable and appropriate approach which must be used for marinating the peaceful environment
at marketplace and entire nation. Along with this supports in improving the conditions of entire
corporate world and common people which are facing a major criminal acts that may hamper the
working life of an individuals ( Schakett and et. al., 2011). Apart from this, as per the theorist
viewpoint it is understood that various nations are going through several criminal acts which may
affect the peaceful environment and normal life of innocent people. Therefore, implication of
social bond approach is indispensable for success of entire society and country because it helps
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every person by assisting towards corrective path in order to teach them how to live in a
coordinative relations. Furthermore, most of the people are following this framework due to its
effectiveness and efficiency towards society as it will guide the people how to make friends,
create friendly relations, maintain the environment hence forth ( Tzanakis, 2013). From the entire
report author is focussing towards implementing a nation free from risk of crime acts which
might create in any one due to lack of self control as some people get failed in regulating their
inner negativity. As a result they might harmed to others with wrongful acts. In order to
overcome these kinds of issues social bond approach of Hrischi is used because it helps in
reducing contentions amongst members living in a team or in a same surrounding as well as
society partners also ( Han and Johnson, 2012 ).
At the end of the report it is analysed that number of reasons are identified which shows
that use the social bond approach such as; it aids in attaching with others emotionally , helps in
creating a positive relations with other members , involve in every activities for making relations
and so on. It has been proven that this theory supports in reducing the problems which might
occurred due to criminological behaviour of any individual and it may hamper the peaceful
environment of society (Liu and et. al., 2011).
CONCLUSION
As per the above discussion, it get comprehend that social bonding theory is assists to
improve an individual’s behaviour. The theory beliefs that socialization as well as creation of
inter personal relationships with others is one of most crucial trait of human development; it
keeps them committed with crimes and further actions of social deviance. The report has stated
as Social bonding theory has four aspects, such as- attachment, involvement, commitment and
belief. Basically, the theory is developed for those who shunned unconventional acts which were
attached to their peers. Furthermore, many youths get involved in various conventional activity,
such as- homework were less likely to engage in criminal behaviour.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Akers, R.L. and Jensen, G.F. eds., 2011. Social learning theory and the explanation of crime (Vol.
1).Transaction Publishers.
Akers, R., 2017. Social learning and social structure: A general theory of crime and deviance. Routledge.
Samek, D.R. and Rueter, M.A., 2011. Considerations of elder sibling closeness in predicting younger
sibling substance use: Social learning versus social bonding explanations. Journal of Family
Psychology, 25(6), p.931.
Nijdam‐Jones, A., Livingston, J.D., Verdun‐Jones, S. and Brink, J., 2015. Using social bonding theory to
examine ‘recovery’in a forensic mental health hospital: A qualitative study. Criminal Behaviour
and Mental Health, 25(3), pp.157-168.’
Jensen, G.F. and Akers, R.L., 2017. The empirical status of social learning theory of crime and deviance:
The past, present, and future. In Taking Stock (pp. 45-84).Routledge.
Cook, K.S., Cheshire, C., Rice, E.R. and Nakagawa, S., 2013. Social exchange theory. In Handbook of
social psychology(pp. 61-88). Springer, Dordrecht.
Machin, A.J. and Dunbar, R.I., 2011. The brain opioid theory of social attachment: a review of the
evidence. Behaviour, 148(9-10), pp.985-1025.
Cheng, L., Li, Y., Li, W., Holm, E. and Zhai, Q., 2013. Understanding the violation of IS security policy
in organizations: An integrated model based on social control and deterrence theory. Computers
& Security, 39, pp.447-459.
Sayette, M.A., Creswell, K.G., Dimoff, J.D., Fairbairn, C.E., Cohn, J.F., Heckman, B.W., Kirchner, T.R.,
Levine, J.M. and Moreland, R.L., 2012. Alcohol and group formation: A multimodal
investigation of the effects of alcohol on emotion and social bonding. Psychological
science, 23(8), pp.869-878.
Beckes, L. and Coan, J.A., 2011. Social baseline theory: The role of social proximity in emotion and
economy of action. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 5(12), pp.976-988.
Schakett, T., Flaschner, A., Gao, T. and El-Ansary, A., 2011. Effects of social bonding in business-to-
business relationships. Journal of Relationship Marketing, 10(4), pp.264-280.
Tzanakis, M., 2013. Social capital in Bourdieu’s, Coleman’s and Putnam’s theory: empirical evidence
and emergent measurement issues. Educate~, 13(2), pp.2-23.
Han, H. and Johnson, S.D., 2012.Relationship between students' emotional intelligence, social bond, and
interactions in online learning. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 15(1), p.78.
Liu, Y., Young, K.A., Curtis, J.T., Aragona, B.J. and Wang, Z., 2011. Social bonding decreases the
rewarding properties of amphetamine through a dopamine D1 receptor-mediated
mechanism. Journal of Neuroscience, 31(22), pp.7960-7966.
Vitak, J., Ellison, N.B. and Steinfield, C., 2011, January. The ties that bond: Re-examining the
relationship between Facebook use and bonding social capital. In System sciences (HICSS),
2011 44th Hawaii international conference on (pp. 1-10).IEEE.
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