FREE ESSAY ON SOCIAL ECOLOGY VS. DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION

SOCIAL ECOLOGY VS. DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION

Shannon R. Nemechek, Soc 355
Which is a better theory of crime Social ecology or differential association? While both
have good concepts I feel that both are somewhat flawed in their concepts of crime. But
for the purposes of this paper I will chose differential association as the better
predictor and concept for criminal behavior as a whole. 
Social ecology says that most criminal behavior is centered around those areas that are
central to a neighborhood. So if a neighborhood is one of great social and economical
pressures then crime is more prevalent in that area as this is true it is not true of all
residents of that area. I feel some of the views of the social ecologists are somewhat
racially bias. Although most criminals are young poor urban black males this does not
mean that all that all young poor urban black males are criminal. Although, it is true
that neighborhoods do have a great influence on young criminal behavior in my view
criminal behavior itself is multi causational. Although, it is true that crime seems to
decrease when you look at crime in the central part of a city and travel out from there I
submit that criminal behavior may not be as different as one might think. I submit that
although most criminals are young poor urban black males that those in rural setting are
prone to an equal amount of criminal behavior but the police tend to look the other way
instead focusing in on those who are in their view more apt to commit crime. 
Not only do neighborhoods help to influence and not deter criminal behavior they also are
influenced from other sources such as family, friends, schools etc. This is the view of
most sociologists that adhere to the view of differential association. These views are
also somewhat flawed but are a much better predictor of criminal behavior than the
latter. Differential association tends to look as criminal behavior as a learned behavior
this I agree with in some aspects most behavior is learned from parents, friends and
family but can also be caused from psychological factors and biological factors such as
some personality disorders, obsessive compulsive disorders and genetic irregularities
such as XYY super males that are more prone to suffer from anti social personality
disorder or psychopathy. But in essence differential association is clearly the better
theory of criminal behavior than the latter theory of social ecology because differential
association looks at what and who a person has around them, how often this influence is
around and how significant the people are around them that helps to define who that
person is if it be criminal or law abiding citizen.