Travis Hirschi
Travis Hirschi was a prominent American sociologist best known for his development of the social control theory, which posits that individuals engage in criminal behavior when their connections to society are weakened. This theory suggests that strong social bonds, such as attachments to family and community, commitments to social engagement, active involvement in positive activities, and shared beliefs in moral values, serve to discourage delinquency. Hirschi's influential work, "Causes of Delinquency," published in 1969, elaborated on these concepts, asserting that individuals who feel integrated into their society are less likely to commit crimes due to concerns about social disapproval.
Born on April 15, 1935, in Rockville, Utah, Hirschi pursued his education in sociology, earning a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1968. He had an esteemed academic career, serving at various institutions, including the University of Washington and the University of Arizona, where he became an emeritus professor in 1997. Hirschi's theories have had a lasting impact on criminology and continue to be a foundational element in the study of crime and delinquency. He passed away on January 2, 2017, leaving behind a significant legacy in the field of sociology.
Travis Hirschi
Sociologist
- Born: April 15, 1935
- Place of Birth: Place of birth: Rockville, Utah
- Died: January 2, 2017
- Place of Death: Tucson, Arizona
Significance: Travis Hirschi was an American sociologist known for his development of the social control theory. The theory states that people begin engaging in criminal activity when their bonds to society are weakened or broken. Since they do not feel connected to society, they care little about how they are perceived and feel free to deviate from what is considered acceptable social behavior. Hirschi is generally regarded as a preeminent authority on criminology and delinquency. He became an emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Arizona in 1997.
Background
Travis Hirschi was born on April 15, 1935, in Rockville, Utah. He was the fifth of eight children born to Warren, a road worker, and Orra Hirschi. Hirschi decided to study sociology and become an academic when he was attending the University of Utah. After earning a bachelor's degree in sociology and history in 1957, Hirschi remained at the school for an additional year to earn a master's degree in sociology and educational psychology.
Hirschi was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1958 and worked as a military data analyst for the next two years. After leaving the army, he enrolled in the Ph.D program in sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. There, he studied the works of English philosopher Thomas Hobbes and French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Hirschi focused on criminology during his doctoral study, specifically on the relationship between human nature, delinquency, and the causes of criminal behavior. The subject of Hirschi's dissertation was the origin of crime, or what makes individuals resort to criminal behavior.
Hirschi argued that crime was caused not by the desperation of ambitious people, but rather by the lack of social controls on criminals. This theory, known as the social control theory, asserts that people engage in criminal activity when they feel no intimate connections to their society. These connections serve essentially to control people by encouraging them to act within the bounds of standard accepted social behavior. According to Hirschi, the severing of society's control on people is what allows them to breach societal norms by committing crimes. His dissertation based on this theory was accepted, and Hirschi earned a Ph.D from Berkeley in 1968.
Social Control Theory
Hirschi's theory of social control became the subject of his first book, Causes of Delinquency, published in 1969. In this work, Hirschi expanded on the claims he made in his dissertation by detailing more closely what he believed to be the causes of crime. Hirschi wrote that social control, the influence a society holds over individuals to act in morally appropriate ways, depends on the strength of the social bonds those individuals have formed in their lives. People who have cultivated strong social bonds and feel intimately connected to their society are unlikely to engage in delinquency because they fear the negative social consequences resulting from these actions. Similarly, people who feel disconnected from their society are less likely to be influenced by social control.
According to Hirschi, four types of social bonds connect people to society. The first is attachment, a measure of individuals' connections to other people. Attachment to people the individual finds important—family, friends, or romantic partners—is a social bond because the individual will refrain from criminal behavior to avoid the disapproval of these people.
The second type of social bond is commitment, or the social investments people make in their community. People who serve their community publically—for example, by becoming a volunteer at a soup kitchen or a member of a local committee—might ruin their reputation by committing crimes. Individuals without these commitments have less social standing to lose if they become criminals. This is what allows those without investments in their community to engage in delinquency more readily.
Related to commitment is involvement, Hirschi's third social bond. According to the social control theory, people who are involved in positive social activities are less likely to become delinquent because of the positive influence that group activities often have on individuals. Children who play on their local little league baseball team, for example, will feel closer to their community and, therefore, will likely not engage in crime against that community.
Hirschi's fourth and final social bond is belief. This bond involves individuals viewing social values as beliefs, or principles. Hirschi asserted that people usually adhere to their own moral ethics. If they regard a positive relationship with their community as a moral ethic, they will engage with their community in healthy ways.
Hirschi argued that these four bonds keep individuals connected to their society and make them less likely to become criminals. He believes that most people do not engage in crime because they are afraid of damaging their reputation; however, those with weak social bonds may become criminals because they do not have this fear.
Impact
Hirschi's theory of social control became an authoritative source on the study of crime and delinquency almost immediately after Causes of Delinquency was published. The theory was one of the most frequently studied and tested propositions in sociology.
In the 1970s, Hirschi taught sociology and criminology at the University of Washington, Seattle, and the State University of New York. In 1981, he began teaching at the University of Arizona. He retired from there in 1997. Hirschi died at his home in Tucson, Arizona, on January 2, 2017. He was eighty-one.
Personal Life
Hirschi married Anna Yergensen in 1955. They later had three children: Kendal, Nathan, and Justine.
Bibliography
Cullen, Francis T.; Jonson, Cheryl Lero; Myer, Andrew J.; and Adler, Freda, eds. The Origins of American Criminology. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2011, 325. Print.
Hagan, Frank E. Introduction to Criminology: Theories, Methods, and Criminal Behavior. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2008. Print.
Hirschi, Travis, and Laub, John H. The Craft of Criminology: Selected Papers. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2003, XI-XXI. Print.
Hope, Trina. "Travis Hirschi." Oxford Bibliographies. Oxford University Press. Web. 20 June 2016, www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195396607/obo-9780195396607-0107.xml. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.
"Obituaries." American Society of Criminology, 2023, asc41.org/obituaries/. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.