• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

SozTheo

Sozialwissenschaftliche Theorien

  • Criminology
  • Theories of crime
    • Anomie/ strain theories
    • Biological theories of crime
    • Career/ Development/ Life-Course
    • Conflict-oriented theories of crime
    • Control
    • Culture/ Emotions/ Situations
    • Learning/ Subculture
    • Rational Choice
    • Sanctioning
    • Social Disorganization
  • Sociology
  • Links
Sie befinden sich hier: Home / Theories of crime / Career/ Development/ Life-Course / Delinquency and Drift (Matza)

Delinquency and Drift (Matza)

15. April 2019 | zuletzt aktualisiert am 12. October 2023 von Christian Wickert

Matzas work Delinquency and Drift, published in 1964, is a critique of positive criminology (e.g. Lombroso’s anthropological/anthropogenetic crime theory) as well as of the then prominent explanatory approaches to juvenile delinquency (theory of differential opportunities of Cloward & Ohlin and subculture theory according to Cohen).

At the center of the critique is the behavioural determism inherent in the theoretical approaches. Instead, Matza argues for a naturalistic view of delinquency based on representatives of symbolic interactionism (Blumer, Mead) or Max Weber’s concept of sociological understanding (Verstehen). The drift or the turning to and rejection of delinquent behaviour is thus a conscious decision of the agent in question.

Matza’s remarks are regarded as fundamentals / predecessors of Critical Criminology.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Toggle
  • Main proponent
  • Theory: Delinquency and Drift
  • Literature
    • Primary literature
    • Secondary literature
  • Further Information

Main proponent

David Matza

Theory: Delinquency and Drift

With his book Delinquency and Drift, published in 1964, Matza takes up the article Techniques of Neutralization: A Theory of Delinquency (1957) published a few years earlier [see: Neutralization Thesis (Sykes and Matza)] and renews his criticism of the then popular explanatory approaches to crime. In particular, Matza rejects Cohen’s subcultural theory, according to which subculturally shaped norms and values are adopted and conventional concepts of values are “overwritten”. This would amount to a behavioural determinism: a deviant behaviour of the members of the subculture would be inevitable, since they do not (or no longer) have conventional norms and values.

Matza opposes this with the facts that

  1. Delinquents sometimes show guilt or remorse regarding their behaviour. This would hardly be the case if the persons had only deviant values.
  2. Delinquents show respect for rightful citizens. They can respect or even admire celebrities, athletes, clergy, teachers, family members or neighbours, although they stand up for other social values.
  3. Victims of delinquent actions are not arbitrary. The own group members are just as taboo as members of the own ethnic group, the church community, the own school or neighbourhood. This indicates that the perpetrators are aware that what they are doing is wrong.
  4. Many delinquents are often involved in their community and perform the same social functions as law-abiding citizens. Shoplifters or drug dealers can be regular churchgoers.

The Delinquent is facing a moral dilemma. On the one hand he knows about the validity of conventional social norms and values, on the other hand he has succumbed to the permissive temptations of the deviant subculture. Matza believes that delinquents (like all other members of society) are subject to the moral obligations of the law. Only when the attachment to laws is perceived as weak and an opportunity for deviant behavior arises does man drift into delinquent behavior. The following consciousness of guilt and bad conscience is compensated by a return to norm-compliant behaviour.

Drift is a “soft determinism”, i.e. delinquency can be partly self-selected and partly determined. The actor can seize an opportunity and consciously decide for a repetition of deviant behaviour if he considers the execution to be feasible and worthwhile or if an act is spurred on by despair over extraordinary circumstances in life that cannot be influenced.

A “drift” into deviant behaviour is always based on a perceived injustice. Here Matza mentions five circumstances that can be the cause of a sense of injustice:

  • Cognizance describes to what extent the (juvenile) delinquent understands his committed injustice as such.
  • Consistency describes whether the (juvenile) delinquent feels treated in the same way as other offenders.
  • Competence related to those who judge the behaviour of the delinquents
  • Commensurability describes whether (at all) the punishment is perceived as appropriate.
  • Comparison refers to legal provisions aimed at juvenile delinquents which, from the point of view of the juveniles, present themselves as unfair.

Literature

Primary literature

  • Matza, David (1964): Delinquency And Drift. New York: Wiley.

Secondary literature

  • Blomberg, Thomas G.; Cullen, Frank; Carlson, Christoffer; Lero Jonson, Cheryl (2017) Delinquency and drift revisited: the criminology of David Matza and beyond. New York: Routledge.

Further Information


Teile diesen Beitrag
  • teilen 
  • teilen 
  • teilen 
  • E-Mail 

Verwandte Beiträge:

  • Kriminalitaetstheorien
    Theories of crime
  • Biologie-–-Lombroso
    Lombroso's criminal anthropology
  • Germantown Avenue in Philadelphia
    Code of the Street (Anderson)

Kategorie: Theories of Crime Tags: 1964, aetiological, Delinquency and Drift, labelling, Lebenslauf, micro, punitive, situation, sociology, sociology, sociology, techniques of neutralisation, USA, Youth crime

Primary Sidebar

Lessons

  • Age-Graded Theory / Turning Points
    Sampson & Laub
  • Delinquency and Drift
    David Matza
  • Career Model
    Henner Hess
  • Career Model
    Stefan Quensel

Footer

About SozTheo

SozTheo is a collection of information and resources aimed at all readers interested in sociology and criminology. SozTheo was created as a private page by Prof. Dr. Christian Wickert, lecturer in sociology and criminology at the University of Applied Sciences for Police and Public Administration in North Rhine-Westphalia (HSPV NRW). The contributions and linked articles available here do not necessarily reflect the official opinion, attitude or curricula of the HSPV NRW.

Impressum & Kontakt

  • About me

Partnerseiten

Criminologia – Kriminologie-Blog

Krimpedia

  • English
    • Deutsch (German)

Spread the word


Teile diesen Beitrag
  • teilen 
  • teilen 
  • teilen 
  • E-Mail 

© 2025 · SozTheo · Admin