A theory introduced by Gresham Sykes and David Matza in 1957 describing a series of rationalizations, such as denial of responsibility, denial of injury, denial of the victim, condemnation of the condemners and appeal to higher loyalties, by which someone who commits an illegitimate act temporarily neutralizes the conventional values that would otherwise restrain them. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Core ClaimSourced to the subject's own accountOffenders are not immune to conventional moral values; they employ specific rationalizations that temporarily neutralize the guilt that would otherwise restrain them, allowing a drift into deviance rather than a wholesale rejection of conventional morality. 1 Origin YearSourced to the subject's own account Standing CritiqueSourced to the subject's own accountFurther research testing the theory has produced inconclusive results, finding offenders both with and without a solid belief in their own moral obligations, and Travis Hirschi questioned whether the rationalizations arise before an offense, restraining it, or only afterward, excusing it. 1 Connections
Associated With
Poaching, Offenses Sykes and Matza's denial-of-injury and denial-of-victim techniques recur throughout the poaching literature, where offenders commonly frame wildlife-taking as harmless or as a customary right rather than genuine theft.
Source Wikipedia: Techniques of Neutralization
Critiqued Here
Sykes and Matza argue most delinquents hold broadly conventional values and merely neutralize them temporarily, challenging Cohen's picture of a wholly separate, inverted delinquent subculture.
Source Wikipedia: Techniques of Neutralization
Developed By
Source Wikipedia: Techniques of Neutralization
Source Wikipedia: Techniques of Neutralization
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Techniques of Neutralization
Lead section
Techniques of neutralization are a theoretical series of methods by which those who commit illegitimate acts temporarily neutralize certain values within themselves which would normally prohibit them from carrying out such acts.
Acceptance section
Further research in the hypothesis has produced inconclusive results. Offenders have been found both with a solid belief in their moral obligations, and without.
Associated With: Poaching, The techniques section (denial of injury, denial of the victim)
The offender insists that their actions did not cause any harm or damage.
In Group: Learning, Neutralization and Labeling Theories, Lead
temporarily neutralize certain values within themselves which would normally prohibit them from carrying out such acts
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