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Differential Association Theory

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Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice

Synonyms

Differential social organization; Early Chicago school theory; History of criminological theories: causes of crime; Social learning theory

Overview

The differential association theory (DAT) of Edwin H. Sutherland is one of the key theories in criminology. The theory and its empirical support, however, are not undisputed. There is much confusion about DAT in the criminological literature, caused partly by Sutherland who changed his theory several times. Early in his career, Sutherland embraced the multiple-factor approach and the interactionist theory of William Thomas (1863–1947), then leaned to social disorganization and culture conflict, and finally settled his own DAT in the late 1930s and 1940s. In this entry, changes in DAT are discussed and the complexity of DAT is illuminated by exploring the intellectual roots of the theory. Several propositions of DAT can be understood better when the theory is situated within broader sociological and psychological traditions. The...

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Acknowledgement

I thank professors Sally Simpson and Lieven Pauwels for their comments and suggestions for the improvement on a previous version.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR), Postbus 71304, 1008 BH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Gerben Bruinsma

  2. UV University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Gerben Bruinsma

Authors
  1. Gerben Bruinsma
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Correspondence to Gerben Bruinsma .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR), Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Gerben Bruinsma

  2. VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Gerben Bruinsma

  3. Department of Criminology, Law and Society, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

    David Weisburd

  4. Faculty of Law, The Hebrew University, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel

    David Weisburd

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Bruinsma, G. (2014). Differential Association Theory. In: Bruinsma, G., Weisburd, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5690-2_691

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5690-2_691

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5689-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5690-2

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