NCJ Number
123609
Date Published
1988
Length
183 pages
Annotation
This book traces the life, career, and thought of Edwin Sutherland, the father of American criminology.
Abstract
Unlike the European schools of criminology, which located deviant behavior within economic influences, Sutherland favored proximate and observable causes. He viewed sources of crime to be in the association and interaction of specific groups of people. His differential association theory considers crime a way of life derived from a person's attachment to groups for whom criminal acts are a measure of success and a way of life. He is known for applying this theory to criminal behavior within occupational groups (white-collar crime). In a series of publications, Sutherland expanded the horizons of the classic Chicago School of interactionists. In the process he founded criminology as a separate area of research located within sociology. The book notes that Sutherland's work was inspired by strong moral concerns and a sense of the needs of society for social order. Sutherland's differential association theory has not only survived the test of time, but has been the preeminent sociological theory of criminology for nearly 50 years, largely because it is centered in the concepts of sociology. Chapter notes, 150-item bibliography.