Walter Reckless
Walter Reckless was an influential American sociologist born on January 19, 1899, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He pursued his education at the University of Chicago, where he studied history and later shifted to sociology, collaborating with prominent sociologists like Robert Park and Ernest Burgess. Reckless's early work involved observing social issues related to crime and delinquency, particularly during the Prohibition era, which informed his later theories on criminal behavior. In 1928, he published significant works addressing youth delinquency and argued for a holistic approach to understanding behavioral issues.
His most notable contribution, the containment theory, proposed that various internal and external factors influence an individual's propensity for delinquency. This theory asserted that a positive self-concept and supportive social environments can act as deterrents to crime, while negative influences can lead to delinquent behavior. Reckless spent much of his academic career at Ohio State University, where he further developed his theories and trained future criminologists. Although his containment theory faced criticism for a lack of empirical evidence, it remains a foundational concept in criminology, influencing future research and theories on crime.
Walter Reckless
American criminologist and author
- Born: January 19, 1899
- Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Died: September 20, 1988
- Place of death: Dublin, Ohio
Education: University of Chicago
Also known as: Walter C. Reckless, Walter Cade Reckless
Significance: Walter Reckless is one of the most famous criminologists of the twentieth century. He is the author of many books about crime, including The Crime Problem (1950), which was published in seven editions. Reckless is known for positing the containment theory, which contends that individuals have both inner and outer forces that push them toward or pull them away from crime. Reckless was the recipient of the prestigious Edwin H. Sutherland Award from the American Society of Criminology (ASC) for his theories and research. Reckless was also a sociology professor at Ohio State University, where he established a renowned criminology program.
Background
Walter Reckless was born on January 19, 1899, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, into a middle-class family with an appreciation of art and music. Reckless learned to play the violin as a boy and continued to play throughout his life. He studied history at the University of Chicago, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1921.
After graduating, he accepted an assistantship at the school to pursue a graduate degree in sociology. In this role, he had a chance to work with American sociologists Robert Park and Ernest Burgess who were conducting observational studies of crime in Chicago, a subject that intrigued Reckless. At the time, Reckless worked as a violinist at a roadhouse, where he observed individuals participating in illicit activities such as prostitution, gambling, and the consumption of alcohol, which was illegal during Prohibition (1920–1933).
In 1924, Reckless began working as an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University, where he met and married one of his students, Martha Washington. In 1928, Reckless published a scholarly article on "problem children" in the Journal of Educational Sociology. In the article, Reckless called for the use of a holistic approach that considered all variables when studying youth with behavioral problems. The following year, he published Six Boys in Trouble: A Sociological Case Book. In the work, Reckless contended that delinquency is at least in part situational, rather than the result of mental or psychological factors as had been previously thought.
Reckless wrote a doctoral dissertation about prostitution, "The Natural History of Vice Areas in Chicago" (1935), which was later published as part of the book Vice in Chicago (1933). The book was a sociological study of prostitution, fraud, and organized crime in Chicago's vice districts, which are crime-ridden parts of the city.
Reckless left Vanderbilt in 1940 when he accepted a position at Ohio State University. He worked in both the College of Social Work and the Department of Sociology. Reckless worked to establish a criminology program and train correctional administrators to become academic scholars. He remained at Ohio State University until he was forced into mandatory retirement in 1969.
Life's Work
While at Ohio State, Reckless conducted many studies both on his own and with Simon Dinitz, an American criminologist, on non-delinquent boys who lived in high-delinquency neighborhoods. Reckless concluded that a good self-concept helped these boys overcome external pressures caused other boys to become delinquent. A poor self-concept, on the other hand, made other boys susceptible to delinquency.
In the 1960s, Reckless proposed his famous containment theory, which was his explanation for delinquency and crime. The containment theory focuses on what stops—or contains—an individual from committing a crime. Reckless believed that people are pushed and pulled into delinquency. Pushes are forces that pressure individuals to become delinquent. Pulls keep individuals from committing crimes. According to the containment theory, pushes and pulls are affected by inner and outer containments, or forces.
Inner containments are internal. Reckless believed that self-concept was a powerful inner containment. Self-concept is the image the individual has of him- or herself. Individuals with a good self-concept see themselves as law-abiding and moral.
Other inner containments are goal orientation, frustration tolerance, and norm retention. Goal orientation refers to people having a sense of life direction and a drive for accomplishments. Those with frustration tolerance are able to withstand societal factors that thwart their success. Norm retention refers to accepting and adhering to laws and rules.
Outer containments are external. They refer to the society in which an individual lives and can be either positive or negative. A friend who pressures an individual to commit a crime is a negative external containment. A supportive parent is a positive external containment.
Reckless concluded that some individuals are predisposed to crime because of strong negative external containments and weak positive inner containments, such as a poor self-concept and few goals. Other individuals can resist crime under the same external pressures if they have strong positive inner containments, such as a good self-concept and strong family values.
Impact
Sociologists consider Reckless's containment theory to be one of the earliest crime theories. Critics contend that it lacks empirical evidence and because of this is mainly speculation. However, the containment theory is credited with being the foundation for later crime theories that became dominant in the twenty-first century.
Personal Life
Walter Reckless married Martha Washington Reckless. They had a son, Walter W. Reckless, an attorney who passed away in 2015.
Principal Works
Six Boys in Trouble: A Sociological Case Book, 1929
Juvenile Delinquency, 1932
Vice in Chicago, 1933
Criminal Behavior, 1940
The Etiology of Delinquent and Criminal Behavior; A Planning Report for Research, 1943
The Crime Problem, 1950
Interdisciplinary Problems in Criminology: Papers of the American Society of Criminology (with Charles L. Newman), 1965.
The Female Offender, 1967
Critical Issues in the Study of Crime (with Simon Dinitz) , 1968
Attitudes Toward Parole, Parolees, and Volunteer Parole Work in Columbus, Ohio, 1972
The Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency, 1972
American Criminology; New Directions, 1973
Bibliography
"Control Theory." Criminology, sociologycriminology.wordpress.com/control-theory/. Accessed 15 Sept. 2017.
"Control Theory." Communication Theory, ommunicationtheory.org/control-theory/. Accessed 15 Sept. 2017.
"Control Theory." Sociology Guide, www.sociologyguide.com/socio-short-notes/control-theory.php. Accessed 15 Sept. 2017.
Cullen, Francis et al, ed. The Origins of American Criminology and Advances in Criminological Theory. Routledge, 2011.
Flexon, Jamie L. "Reckless, Walter C.: Containment Theory." Sage Publications, 2010.
Flexon, Jamie L. "Containment Theory." The Encyclopedia of Theoretical Criminology, 26 March 2014.
Hagen, Frank E. Introduction to Criminology: Theories, Methods, and Criminal Behavior. Sage Publications, Inc., 2016.
Lux, Jennifer. "Reckless, Walter." Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 22 Jan. 2014.