The Role of Empathy in the Connection between Gender and Control Theory

• In Event: Reflections on Control Theory: Teachings of Hirschi and Gottfredson

Abstract

Although Hirschi (1969) and Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) paid relatively little attention to the connection between gender and control theory processes, much can be taken from their research to advance these connections. Researchers have long known that girls are subjected to greater social controls and develop higher levels of self-control than do boys. Research has investigated the family and community origins of gendered differences in control and have found that girls receive both greater amounts of control (difference in intercepts) but also experience gendered processes of control (differences in slopes). What has been largely absent in this discussion is theorizing about the role of empathy in connecting gender to social and self-control. I theorize how research and policy can better utilize measures of empathy, as it relates to both gender differences in control and gender differences in criminal offending. Finally, empirical data on gender, empathy and crime is presented.

Author

• Constance Chapple, University of Oklahoma