The social bond theory is the best approach to explain the reasons for domestic violence, and it was created by Travis Hirschi who later changed it to social control theory. Before applying the Social Bond Theory, there is a need to comprehend its tenets and aspects comprehensively. The social bond theory entails various aspects of life such as family attachment, commitment to the different social norms, and engagement in a lot of activities. (Hoffmann & Dufur, 2018). The social bond theory emphasizes primarily on peers.
Attachment is a Social Bond Theory element that refers to the degree of values and norms held by an individual in society; it is critical when talking about an individual’s parental figure. Different attachments can also play significant roles, such as those in schools and other places of socialization the teacher, for example, plays a significant role in the child’s development. (Pritchett & Moeller, 2021). By corporation with one another, children may be resentful to the school at their earliest point. The resentment could obstruct the possibility of progressing with their education. On the other hand, commitment refers to the degree of focus or concentration of an individual to abide by legal practice.
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Norms and values are meant to teach adolescents on the need to respect societal virtues. As a result, comprehension has a massive impact on how people grow and gel in a society. For instance, a child raised in places where drugs are abused; then the child would more likely involve himself in drugs in the future. This is similar to children who are abused when growing; they tend to be violent to their spouses. Similarly, a strong bond between mother, father, and a child in a nuclear family has a crucial impact on the child's upbringing. Thirdly, a person can choose whether to participate in traditional practices or engage in deviant behaviours (Pritchett & Moeller, 2021). The formation of this choice is at a point when the basic life rules have been taught. The societal dictates the norms to be followed; however, lack of such virtues forces people to engage in activities that make sense to them. As a result, this can also get into how the person relates in a family setting. In many ways, this can have a direct correlation with the four primary areas of the Social Bonding Theory. When these aspects are incorporated, they become central areas of a strong bond theory. The Social Bonding Theory is more effective when describing the basis of domestic violence among many sociologists for various reasons. On the basis that bonds exist in various concepts of a community shows that the bonds' relations can be discussed easily (Pritchett & Moeller, 2021). The basic aspect of the Social Bonding Theory is that social bonds occur, and when they are weakened, then there could be unusual behavior formation.
A person in a weak membership has less possibility of relying on them and he will depend largely on himself. Besides, he does not recognize other rules formed elsewhere. The Social Bonding Theory has a lot of positive concepts, primarily based on the origin of domestic violence. For example, a young person participates in criminal activities away from home, the parents are blamed for instituting weak parental control system. Committing a crime is a choice and depends on the how the person was raised
The Social Bonding Theory is based on the belief that creating personal relationships are some of the best concepts of human development that makes people not commit crimes or other social deviance acts. For instance, since individuals can relate with family members in different ways during their process of association or relation, and they have also accepted the social situations and the anticipations that originate with being a member of the society, they may not commit crimes against each other because they belong to the same society. From the Social Bonding Theory perspective, this happens because people understand that they can largely depend on each other because of accepting that such actions could severely dent their joint operations (Pritchett & Moeller, 2021). Hirschi uses the elements of Social Bonding Theory to define the origin of domestic violence clearly.
Attachment is about creating interpersonal relationships and social and cultural standards. For instance, a person will most likely form an attachment first with his or her parents. The parents do not only help their children to understand the world around them but also influence their future actions. With attachment, people start to learn some of the things they can anticipate from their culture and their expectations (Koeppel & Chism, 2018). The cultural norms develop over time, and individuals begin internalizing them to form a group and personal identities, which then creates social boundaries that make us have a shared goal and not being egocentric. An individual who fails to form strong and effective links with society may have a feeling of an outsider and would probably not internalize or understand the significance of such social boundaries. Such people can initiate domestic violence because they lack a specific social norm to guide their actions.
The next element of Social Bonding Theory that strongly explains the origin of domestic violence is commitment. Concisely, this aspect prevents humans from undertaking or participating in violent social values. Even though attachment is more focused on the internalization of social expectations, the commitment element is about the willingness to respect the existing social norms (Cummings, 2017). For example, if one works in the same office with co-workers, he or she may behave in a way that does not distract others around them. Indeed, this happens because one can comprehend that in such social environments, a behaviour of such nature is not acceptable and has outcomes, such as upsetting others. The example shows that one is more focused on aspects that make the environment more attractive and pleasant to others. The same applies to a family setting.
Conclusion
In summary, the Social Bonding Theory is the best approach to explain domestic violence's origin or occurrence. An individual without robust attachments will most likely lack commitment and adherence to the social laws. They often feel left out, and their actions may hurt others around them.
This work has evaluated the credibility of the sources used by employing various measurement aspects. The format has a lot of texts, and sources have been cited with footnotes and references. The publishers are also peer-reviewed, and they are written by researchers and professionals in the field of that discipline.
References
Cummings, C. A. (2017). I can't see you; you can't see me: Cyberbullying: An exploratory study examining this concept through the social bond theory lens. International Journal of Criminal and Forensic Science, 1(2), 32-39. DOI: 10.25141/2576-3563-2017-2.0032 .
Hoffmann, J. P., & Dufur, M. J. (2018). Family social capital, family social bonds, and juvenile delinquency. American Behavioral Scientist, 62(11), 1525-1544. h ttps://doi.org/10.1177/0002764218787020 .
Koeppel, M., Chism, K. (2018). Substance Use and Sexual Orientation: A Test of Hirschi’s Social Bonds Theory. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 43 (2), 278-293. Available at: https://aquila.usm.edu/fac_pubs/18145 .
Pritchett, S., & Moeller, K. (2021). Can social bonds and social learning theories help explain radical violent extremism? Nordic Journal of Criminology , 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/2578983X.2021.1889133
