Writing assignment

Containment Theory

Walter Reckless

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If you believe that humans are basically bad, or self-centered, this will be a theoretical approach more compatible with your assumptions.

Clearly, regarding control theories, Travis Hirschi has been more influential than Reckless. But, Reckless presented an interesting control theory. It integrates various levels of explanation unlike most theories.

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Containment Theory (A Control Theory)

Containment Theory – like all control theories – based on the following assumption: the motivation for criminal behavior is a part of human nature and all people would commit crime if left on their own.

Important question thus becomes: Why don’t people commit crime? If people don’t commit crime, something is stopping them from committing crime. It is the weakness of forces restraining humans that produces crime.

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The natural tendency is for all individuals to commit crime. As Jack Katz noted there are seductions to crime. The temptations of crime can include money and revenge among others.

This natural tendency for individuals to commit crime can be enhanced by the following: social pressures, social pulls, and pushes.

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1) Social Pressures—forces bearing down on the individual (difficult life circumstances) including adverse living conditions, family conflicts, stigmatized/minority group status, and lack of opportunities.

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2) Social Pulls—bad influences drawing the person away from accepted norms of living, such as bad companions, delinquent or criminal subcultures, deviant groups, and mass media.

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3) Pushes—biological and/or psychological factors within each individual, driving him or her toward crime, including restlessness, discontent, inner tensions, hostility, aggressive nature, need for immediate gratification, rebelliousness, etc.

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What keeps a person from committing crime? There is a containment system: a containing external structure and an internal buffer. These two containments act as a defense against deviating from the legal and social norms. If there are causes which lead to deviant behavior, they have to be negated by the containing buffers.

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Inner containment: internal containments consist of the inner strength, or internal constraints, of an individual personality (e.g., good self-concept, ego strength, high frustration tolerance, goal orientation and tension-reducing capabilities).

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External containment—outer constraints or the normative constraints that societies, institutions, and social groups (like the family and school use to control their members)

Reckless felt that in mobile, industrial societies, found to reside primarily in the family and other supportive groups.

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In less advanced and highly managed societies, external containments are strong and so internal containments are probably not put to the test.

In mobile, industrialized societies, internal containments are more important for constraining behavior.

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Do you think Reckless was right?

Do humans need to be contained?

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