Fifty Years of Causes of Delinquency, Volume 25: The Criminology of Travis Hirschi

This volume celebrates the 50th anniversary of Travis Hirschis influential book, Causes of Delinquency, and explores its impact on criminological theory and research. Contributions from scholars highlight the theory's influence, its empirical testing, and its development over time. The book also discusses new directions for social control theory and self-control theory, and emphasizes the enduring importance of Hirschis work for criminological theory and research.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 396 pages
Publication date: 29 May 2021
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This volume commemorates the 50th anniversary of the publication of Travis Hirsch's groundbreaking work, Causes of Delinquency. The profound influence of Hirsch's book, and the theory of social control it encapsulated, cannot be overstated. Social control theory has garnered extensive empirical testing and scholarly commentary, earning it a prominent position among the three dominant theories of crime. The present work sheds light on the enduring impact that social control theory has had on criminological theory and research. Agnew's contribution underscores the pivotal role played by Hirsch's tests of control versus strain theory in the decline of classic strain theories and the subsequent emergence of general strain theory. Serrano-Maillo establishes a connection between control and drift, while Tedor and Hope compare the human nature assumptions of control theory to the current psychological literature. Other contributions revisit Hirsch's original Richmond Youth Survey (RYS) data, reinforcing the robustness of his key findings. Costello and Anderson find strong support for Hirsch's predictions in an analysis of a diverse group of youths in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in 1999. Nofziger similarly supports Hirsch's predictions with an analysis of the girls in the RYS and explores the criticisms of social control theory that emerged due to Hirsch's failure to analyze the data from the girls in the sample. Kempf-Leonard revisits her seminal 1993 survey of control theory, providing a comprehensive review of the current empirical status of control theory. Additionally, other contributions explore fresh avenues for both social control theory and self-control theory. Cullen, Lee, and Butler's contribution argues that Hirsch undertheorized one element of the social bond, commitment, and the authors present a novel perspective to rectify this oversight.

Weight: 544g
Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367529406