Social Learning Theory and the Youth Gang Epidemic
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sociology
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published 06/09/2007
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SummaryThe existence of youth gangs is evident in large and small cities throughout America, and more often than not, delinquency and crime are associated with those gangs. Robert L. Akers and Robert L. Burgess developed the widely-accepted social learning theory in the 1960s, and that theory can be used to explain why delinquency and criminal behavior exists in this country’s youth gangs.
Table of Contents
- The origins of the social learning theory come from many areas of criminological and sociological theory
- Though Sutherland's and Akers and Burgess's interpretations of this are different, it can be inferred that Akers and Burgess's theory that learning is a result of social and nonsocial reinforcement is logical.
- The social development model used by the SSDP is a combination of many theories, including Akers and Burgess's social learning theory and Sutherland's differential association theory
- The SSDP study's results indicate a variety of possibilities as far how some youth become delinquent
- Many aspects of the social learning theory can help explain why youth join gangs
- Akers and Burgess say that if one is affiliated or associated with a specific group, one will adapt to such a group
- The future of gangs in the United States is unclear, but many U.S. government agencies are working on efforts to suppress and eliminate such threats
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