Structure and Control: Reconsidering Hirschi's Concept of Commitment

• NCJ Number: 109337
• Journal: Justice Quarterly Volume: 4 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1987) Pages: 409-424
• Author(s): T J Bernard
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 16 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: This is a revised version of a paper presented at the 1983 annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology.

Annotation

Hirschi's concept of commitment confuses the definition and the explanation of conformity as part of a more general confusion between conformity and legality.

Abstract

The result is tautology -- an explanation that merely restates a definition. Commitment is properly conceived as an antecedent variable that measures the role of social structure in the origin of delinquency. As such, it explains legal actions, but not conforming actions. (Publisher abstract)