Fall 2018 Professor Ross L. Matsueda

SOCIOLOGY 401

CRIME AND THE LIFE COURSE

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course examines crime and deviance within a life course framework. How does crime evolve

across the life span? What explains systematic patterns of crime over the life course? A life course

framework views an individual’s life span as a set of trajectories (upward, downward, or flat paths

over time) and turning points (important life events, such as graduation, parenthood, marriage, work,

and incarceration) that alter the direction of trajectories. We will examine early child behavior patterns,

juvenile delinquency, adult crime and incarceration over the life course. We begin by discussing

important theories of deviance over the life course, including low self-control theory, informal control

theory, learning theories, and rational choice theory. We cover life stages, beginning with how

trajectories develop in early childhood, focusing on genetic predispositions, parent-child interactions,

and child development. We discuss the transition to adolescence and the role of peers and schools in

the development of delinquent behavior. We then examine the transition to adulthood, and key turning

points, such as parenthood, marriage, work, and incarceration.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

· Provide you with an appreciation of the life course perspective in studying crime.

· Provide you with an understanding of basic theories, concepts, and research methods used by life

course criminologists.

· Show you the connection between life course theories and ideas and real-world phenomena.

· Allow you to simulate the work of social scientists by applying theoretical tools to case studies and

other data.

· Make you a critical consumer of media reports and politicians’ claims about crime over the life

course.

· Give you an opportunity to sharpen your critical and analytical skills through oral participation and

written assignments.

Syllabus Sociology 401 Crime and the Life Course Syllabus

Website http://faculty.washington.edu/matsueda/courses/401D/web401d.htm

Time & Location Tuesday, Thursday 3:30-4:50pm Loew Hall 222

Office Hours Ross L. Matsueda Fri 2-3pm 227 Savery Hall

Email Address: matsueda@uw.edu

Lecture Slides Lecture 1: Introduction to the Course

Lecture 2: Definition of Life Course and Crime

Lecture 3: Age-Crime Curve and Trajectory Groups

Lecture 4: Low Self-Control Theory

Lecture 5: Age-Graded Informal Social Control Theory

Lecture 6: Social Learning Theories

Lecture 7: Symbolic Interactionism

Lecture 8: Genetics and Families

Lecture 9: Marriage, Motherhood and Desistance

Lecture 10: Adulthood: Work and Crime

Readings

Elder, Glenn H. 1985. “Perspectives on the Life Course”. Pp. 23-48 in Life Course Dynamics: Trajectories and Transitions, 1968-1980, edited by G.H. Elder. Ithaca: Cornell.

Caspi, Avshalom, Glen H. Elder, and Daryl J. Bem. 1987. “Moving Against the World: Life-Course Patterns of Explosive Children.” Developmental Psychology 23:308-313.

Gottfedson, Michael R., and Travis Hirschi. 1990. A General Theory of Crime. Stanford, CA: Stanford, Chapter 5 (pp. 85-120).

Sampson, Robert J., and John H. Laub. 1993. Crime in the Making. Cambridge, MA: Harvard, Chapter 1 pp. 6-24

Matsueda, Ross L. 2001. “Differential Association Theory,” In Encyclopedia of Criminology and Deviant Behavior, Vol.1, edited by Clifton D. Bryant. New York: Taylor and Francis.

Sellers, Christine S., and L. Thomas Winfree, Jr. 2010. “Ronald L. Akers: Social Learning Theory.” Pp. 21-29 in Encyclopedia of Criminological Theory, edited by F. T. Cullen, and P. Wilcox. Beverly Hills: Sage.

Matsueda, Ross L., and Karen Heimer. 1997. “A Symbolic Interactionist Theory of Role Transitions, Role Commitments, and Delinquency.” Advances in Criminological Theory, Vol. 7, Developmental Theories of Crime and Delinquency, edited by Terence P. Thornberry. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.

Jonson, Cheryl Lero. 2010. Giordano, Peggy C., and Stephan A. Cernkovich: Cognitive Transformation and Desistance.” Pp. 370-73 in Encyclopedia of Criminological Theory, edited by F. T. Cullen, and P. Wilcox. Beverly Hills: Sage

Sandra Scarr and Kathleen McCartney. 1983. “How People make their Own Environments: A Theory of Genotype → Environment Effects.” Child Development 54:424-435.

Grigoryeva, Maria. 2017. “Strategic Action or Self-Control? Adolescent Information Management and Delinquency.” Social Science Research 72:225-239.

Guo, Guang, Michael Roettger, and Tianji Cai. 2008. “The Integration of Genetic Propensities into Social Control Models of Delinquency and Violence among Male Youths.” American Sociological Review 73:543-568.

Caspi, Avshalolm, et al. 1993. “Unraveling Girls’ Delinquency: Biological Dispositional, and Contextual Contributions to Adolescent Misbehavior.” Developmental Psychology 1:19-30.

Uggen, Christopher, and Sara Wakefield. 2008. “What Have we Learned from Longitudinal Studies of Work and Crime?” Pp. 191-219 in The Long View of Crime: A Synthesis of Longitudinal Research. Edited by A. Liberman. New York: Springer.

Edin, Kathryn, and Maria Kefalas. 2005. Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood Before Marriage. Los Angeles: University of California Press, Chapters 1-2 & 6.

Laub, John H., and Robert J. Sampson. 2003. Shared Beginnings: Divergent Lives: Delinquent Boys to Age 70. Cambridge, MA: Harvard. Chapter 6.

Kreager, Derek A., Ross L. Matsueda, and Elena A. Erosheva. 2010. “Motherhood and Criminal Desistance in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods.” Criminology 48:221-258.

Pettit, Becky and Bruce Western. 2004. “Mass Imprisonment and the Life Course: Race and Class Inequality in U.S. Incarceration.” American Sociological Review 69:151-69.

Maruna, Saad. 2001. Making Good: How Ex-Conficts Reform and Rebuild their Lives, Chapters 4 and 5 (pp. 73-108).