Hirschi's Social Bond Theory

In 1969, Travis Hirschi published Causes of Delinquency, in which a detailed critique was presented of the strain, cultural deviance, and social control theories. Hirschi’s social bond theory basically states that delinquency takes place when a person’s bonds to society are weakened or broken, which reduces one’s personal stakes in conformity. In society, individuals maintain conformity for fear of how others may view them such as friends, family, peers at work or school, employers, etc. This overall fear of violating expected mores and tarnishing one’s own personal image holds more value than the prescribed punishments handed down by the criminal justice system.
A bond describes a person’s connection to society and consists of four elements: attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief. For every individual, each component of the social bond forms its own continuum. When the continua are merged, they provide an outlook of how strongly one is tied to society and the stronger the bond, the less likely the individual will commit crime. Attachment refers to a bond with others such as peers and family, and important institutions such as work, church, and school. Strong attachments to parents and families lower the chances of an individual becoming delinquent whereas weak attachments may impair personality development. Strong
Unfortunately, involvement does not impact criminal behavior as well as the other bonds described because breaking the law requires minimal time to do and leaves individuals the ability to find time for criminal behavior before or after engaging in specific activities. An example would be a youth, who immediately after school has soccer practice and/ or piano lessons. By staying busy, he has less time to hang out with friends and become