sociocultural explanations of the origins of violence
suggests that people learn to behave violently (including violent attitudes and
norms) through direct experiences and through observing models.
learning theory focuses on observational learning and modeling. The theory
proposes that children learn to be violent due to exposure to violent models
and because violent behavior is rewarded. The support for this proposition
comes from the results of the classic Bobo doll experiment (Bandura et al.,
1961) showing that children who watched an aggressive model being rewarded
for aggression were likely to imitate the aggression later.
learning theory (SLT) has been applied to explain the development of
aggression and intergenerational transmission of violence through
socialization. Children are influenced by socialization factors such as the
family, the immediate environment (including peers), and the media.
learning can be direct via instructions or indirect (e.g. role
models and no direct instructions). Children who grow up in violent families
and neighborhoods where they watch models use violence and obtain benefits
from it (e.g. power) may be likely to see violence as a legitimate means to
get what they want or exert power over other people. They may even justify
the use of violence.
Strengths of SLT in relation to violent behavior
of violence can be transmitted from parents to children as predicted by SLT.
SLT can also explain that adolescents use violence in marginalized social
groups because it pays off in the form of status (reinforcement).
SLT in relation to violent behavior
explain how structural factors such as poverty contribute to establishing
the social norms of male superiority.
does not take individual factors such as intelligence and personality into
may be more prone to violence (e.g. due to brain damage as a result of
Studies to use:
Bandura and Ross (1961) and/or
violence theory (Wolfgang and Ferracuti, 1967)
the theory violent behavior results from a commitment to sub cultural norms
and values. Individual violent values lead to violent behavior because sub
cultural values act as a mechanism of social control among group members.
used as a means to defend honor and maintain status (e.g. within the group,
in the family, or in relation to other groups). If members of subcultures
perceive threats to reputation or honor they will defend their honor with
violence if necessary, even if it threatens their life.
was developed based on work in an inner-city African-American neighborhood
in Philadelphia. It was suggested that the subculture of violence phenomenon
was a lower-class masculine phenomenon related to race. This is now
Evaluation of the theory of subculture of violence
can explain how violence may be used to establish and maintain power within
a social group (i.e. to establish social hierarchies). Dominance and power
could also be one explanation of school bullying (e.g. Gest et al., 2003,
found that bullies are seen as popular and “cool”).
does not explain what sociocultural structural factors could lead to
violence because the primary focus is on social norms and values as the
origin of violence. High rates of violence could be the result of poverty
and class oppression rather than a culture of honour (Anderson, 1999).
Nisbett and Cohen (1996) found support for the theory’s proposition that
violence is used to maintain honour in the Southern states of the USA where
there are high rates of violence. They argue that a “culture of honour” seems to
have survived from the herding economies brought to the area by Irish and
Scottish settlers between the 17th and 19th centuries.
factors cause violence?
is a steroid male sex hormone secreted in the testes of males and in the
ovaries of females. Men produce ten times more testosterone than women.
has been linked to aggression and dominance behavior because castration of a
male usually has a pacifying effect on aggressive behavior in males.
relationship between aggression and testosterone is complex and difficult to
test scientifically because measurement of testosterone levels from blood or
saliva is not reliable.