WHY PEOPLE OBEY THE RULES (HIRSCHI'S THEORY)

The central focus of Hirschi’s theory is the reason why people obey rules, and not why people break the rules. Indeed this has its roots in what is known as control theories advanced by various proponents like Albert Reiss, Jackson Toby, Ivan Nye, Walter Reckless, David Matza, Jack Gibbs, Hirschi and so on.
Hirschi is believed to be the most prominent control theorist and contributed significant works to the field of criminology thought-out the past few decades. He is a classical, choice theorist and generated two versions of the control theory, presented in the causes of delinquency in 1969, which had an origin in the social disorganization perspective. This control theory of delinquency purported that in a general theory of crime in 1990 with Michael Gottfredson who explained that weak social bonds might set an individual free to weigh the benefits of crime. Social control theory proposes that people’s relationship, commitment, values, norms and beliefs encourage them not to break the law. Thus if the moral codes are internalized and individuals are tied into and have a stance in their wider community, they will voluntarily limit their propensity to commit deviant acts.
Hirschi instead of focusing on an individual’s personality as a source of criminality, he focused on the role of social relationship that he called social bonds and institutions (Hirschi, 1969:16).
Control theory delinquency assumes that delinquent acts result when one’s bond or connection to society is weal or broken. Hirschi contended that no motivational factors were necessary for to become delinquent but the absence of control that allows the individuals to be free to weigh the benefits of crime over the costs of these acts.
Hirschi discussed four variables that may affect ones likelihood of conforming to or deviating from the norms of society: Attachments, Commitment, Involvement and Belief.
Hirschi (1969:18) by attachments refers to the extent to which a person is attached to others. As the individual becomes more attached to others, he is far les likely to become delinquent because of the ties, admires identity and their expectations. The attachment and interactions may be with the parents, peers, teachers, religious leaders and other members of a community for example a person is less likely to commit murder, defilement because of the fear of what will the people attached to them say and shame in front of the attached members.
Hirschi prefers the concept of attachment to that of internalization, because of attachment can be measured independently from deviant behaviour.
Commitment according to Hirschi means the rational component in conformity. He further contends that commitment refers to the fear of law-breaking bahaviour. A person according to Hirschi is not likely to commit deviant or criminal behaviour when they consider the risks of losing the investment he has made in previous conventional behaviour for example not paying taxes for the goods, which can lead a person to lose everything invested previously. Not only can one be committed to conformity by what he has obtained but also the hope of acquiring goods through conventional means can reinforce one’s commitment to the social bonds (Hirschi, 1969:186). Commitment is pure common sense, because abiding by the rules of society helps one retain or enhance one’s skills in society.
Engrossment is conventional activities comprises the component of involvement. Hirschi’s believes that involvement in conventional keep someone’s time too occupied to allow him the indulgence of deviant bahaviour. Hirschi thought for a person for example being involved in doing homework, joining football club or attending computer lessons during the holidays, the opportunity for deviance rarely arise.
As the concept of involvement has generated programmes that focus on recreational activities to occupy the leisure time of juveniles, it has been criticized that some individuals commit crimes because they are engrossed in work for example white collar and blue-collar criminals. Belief which is another variable that deter people from deviating from the social norms, refers to the existence of a common value system within the society whose norms are being violated (Hirschi, 1969:197).
A person is more likely to conform to social norms when he believes in them for example when a Christian believes that not attending church service is a sin or a crime or a belief that when a person disobeys the parents he will be cursed. Hirschi recognizes that individuals vary in the depth and magnitude of their belief and rely upon the degree of attachments to the systems representing the beliefs. Thus Hirschi viewed the four variables as highly intercorrelated.

However, the four variables of conformity and deviation do encounter some criticism as highlighted hereunder;
Firstly, they do not seem to explain all types of crime. Involvement for example may not explain white collar or blue-collar crime because if one is conforming to societal norms by working at the job, he is not necessarily too busy to commit crime but because his working has the opportunity to commit crime.
Also involvement provides an overly simplistic solution to the problems generated by delinquency for example Hirschi suggestion that “the child playing, swimming or doing homework is not committing delinquent acts” may imply that providing youth with playing swimming and homework will rid society of crime (Hirschi, 1969:187).
Another weakness of the four variables is that they have been thought of as confusing, because Hirschi intended a sociological definition rather than a psychological sense (Lilly et al, 1995:99). Attachment has been confused as the strength of an internal, emotional bond that may grow more intense without interaction which is not the case. By commitment Hirschi did not mean a deep internal definition of the self of others. By involvement he was not referring to the emotional entanglements. By belief he did not mean a significant inner faith or deep belief in something or someone (Lilly et al, 1995:100).

In conclusion, though Hirschi’s control theory is still prominent in the modern society, it has faced many criticisms as mentioned above and some of these critiques have even been furnished by Hirschi himself especially regarding the origin of this theory.
It is assumed that, in contrast, that there is variation in the extent to which people believe they should obey the rules of society and furthermore that the less a person believes he or she should obey the rules the more likely he or she is to violate them.
In summary, Hirschi has had a significant impact on the world of criminology. His two major theories, the control theory of delinquency and self-control theory, despite criticism have guided public policy reformations and are quite popular today.





REFERENCES

Agnew, R. (1992): “Foundation for a General Strain Theory of Crime and Delinquency.”
Criminology, New Brunswick, Transaction Publishers.

Gottfredson, M. R. and Hirschi, T. (1990): A General Theory of Crime. Stanford, California:
Stanford University Press.

Hirschi, T. (1969): Causes of Delinquency. Berkeley, University of California Press.

Lilly, J et al. (1995): Criminological theory: context and consequences. Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications.
Reckless, W. (1961):A new theory of delinquency and crime, Federal Probation, london, Zed Books.
Sampson, R and John, H. (1993): Crime in the Making, Pathways and Turning Points Through Life, Cambridge, Harvard University Press.
Toby, J. (1957): Social disorganization and stake in conformity, Complimentary factors in the predatory behavior of hoodlums. Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science.