Control Balance

Proposing an integrated theory of deviance, this book takes as its central premise that the total amount of control to which people are subjected, relative to the control they can exercise, will affect the probability and type of their deviant behaviour. The author reviews general theories such as anomie, Marxian conflict, social control, differential association/social learning, labelling, and routine activities, and suggests reasons why those theories are insufficient. Using real-world examples, he contends that deviance results from the convergence of four variables (disposition, motivation, opportunity and constraint), each of which represents an interactive nexus of several inputs - including, most prominently, a control imbalance. Control-balance theory also explains six basic types of deviance, ranging from predation, defiance and submissiveness at one end of a control-ratio continuum, to exploitation, plunder and decadence at the other.