Morality, Deterrents, and Self Control: A Test of Wikstrom's Situational Action Theory

• In Event: Rational Choice Theories: New Directions and Applications

Abstract

Wikstrom’s (2004; 2006) situational action theory (SAT) argues that crime occurs when an actor views the act as a viable option and then chooses to engage in the behavior, either out of habit or through deliberate thought. SAT emphasizes that crimes are moral actions, and people are rule-guided actors. Therefore, whether or not an actor sees crime as a potential action alternative depends on a) the actor’s criminal propensity, defined largely as one’s moral values and level of self-control and b) how that propensity interacts with criminogenic environments, particularly deterrents in the form of moral rules and sanctions within that environment. By using a vignette study design with measures of action-relevant moral belief s, action-relevant deterrents, and self-control, this study provides a particularly robust test of SAT by evaluating the extent to which an interaction between individual morality and the moral setting account for intention to offend and the ways in which self-control moderates that relationship.

Authors

• Natasha Morgan Ganem, University of Georgia

• Michelle Manasse, Towson University