Techniques of Neutralization: A Theory of Delinquency Author(s): Gresham M. Sykes and David Matza Source: American Sociological Review, Vol. 22, No. 6 (Dec., 1957), pp. 664-670 Published by: American Sociological Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2089195 Accessed: 07/08/2009 13:32 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=asa. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. American Sociological Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to American Sociological Review. http://www.jstor.org

TECHNIQUES OF NEUTRALIZATION: A THEORY OF DELINQUENCY GRESHAM M. SYKES DAVID MATZA Princeton University Temple University IN attempting to uncover the roots of juvenile delinquency, the social scientist has long since ceased to search for devils in the mind or stigma of the body. It is now largely agreed that delinquent behavior, like most social behavior, is learned and that it is learned in the process of social interaction. The classic statement of this position is found in Sutherland's theory of differential association, which asserts that criminal or delinquent behavior involves the learning of (a) techniques of committing crimes and (b) motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes favorable to the violation of law.' Unfortunately, the specific content of what is learned-as opposed to the process by which it is learned-has received relatively little attention in either theory or research. Perhaps the single strongest school of thought on the nature of this content has centered on the idea of a delinquent sub- culture. The basic characteristic of the de- liquent sub-culture, it is argued, is a system of values that represents an inversion of the values held by respectable, law-abiding society. The world of the delinquent is the world of the law-abiding turned upside down and its norms constitute a countervailing force directed against the conforming social order. Cohen 2 sees the process of developing a delinquent sub-culture as a matter of building, maintaining, and reinforcing a code for behavior which exists by opposition, which stands in point by point contradiction to dominant values, particularly those of the middle class. Cohen's portrayal of delin- quency is executed with a good deal of sophistication, and he carefully avoids overly simple explanations such as those based on the principle of "follow the leader" or easy generalizations about "emotional distur- bances." Furthermore, he does not accept the delinquent sub-culture as something given, but instead systematically examines the function of delinquent values as a viable solution to the lower-class, male child's prob- lems in the area of social status. Yet in spite of its virtues, this image of juvenile delinquency as a form of behavior based on competing or countervailing values and norms appears to suffer from a number of serious defects. It is the nature of these defects and a possible alternative or modified explana- tion for a large portion of juvenile delin- quency with which this paper is concerned. The difficulties in viewing delinquent be- havior as springing from a set of deviant values and norms-as arising, that is to say, from a situation in which the delinquent defines his delinquency as "right"-are both empirical and theoretical. In the first place, if there existed in fact a delinquent sub- culture such that the delinquent viewed his illegal behavior as morally correct, we could reasonably suppose that he would exhibit no feelings of guilt or shame at detection or confinement. Instead, the major reaction would tend in the direction of indignation or a sense of martyrdom.3 It is true that some delinquents do react in the latter fashion, although the sense of martyrdom often seems to be based on the fact that others "get away with it" and indignation appears to be directed against the chance events or lack of skill that led to apprehension. More im- portant, however, is the fact that there is a good deal of evidence suggesting that many delinquents do experience a sense of guilt or 1 E. H. Sutherland, Principles of Criminology, revised by D. R. Cressey, Chicago: Lippincott, 1955, pp. 77-80. 2 Albert K. Cohen, Delinquent Boys, Glencoe, Ill.: The Free Press, 1955. This form of reaction among the adherents of a deviant subculture who fully believe in the "rightfulness" of their behavior and who are captured and punished by the agencies of the dominant social order can be illustrated, perhaps, by groups such as Jehovah's Witnesses, early Chris- tian sects, nationalist movements in colonial areas, and conscientious objectors during World Wars I and II. 664