Travis Hirschi
{{Short description|American sociologist and criminologist (1935–2017)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Travis Hirschi
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| image = Travis_Hirschi.jpg
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| birth_date = April 15, 1935
| birth_place = Rockville, Utah, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2017|01|02|1935|04|15}}
| death_place = Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
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| fields = Sociology, criminology
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| education = University of California, Berkeley (Ph.D.)
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| known_for = Social control theory
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Travis Warner Hirschi (April 15, 1935 – January 2, 2017) was an American sociologist and an emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Arizona. He helped to develop the modern version of the social control theory of crime and later the self-control theory of crime.
Biography
Hirschi was born in Rockville, Utah. He attended the University of Utah in the 1950s, where he obtained undergraduate and master's degrees. In 1955, Hirschi married Anna Yergensen.{{cite book|last1=Cullen|first1=Francis T.|last2=Jonson|first2=Cheryl Lero|last3=Myer|first3=Andrew J.|author4=Freda Adler|title=The Origins of American Criminology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0j6h988fQ9QC&pg=PA325|accessdate=April 18, 2015|date=January 2011|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=978-1-4128-1467-6|page=325}} He spent two years as a U.S. Army data analyst.{{cite journal|title=Oxford Index: Travis Hirschi|url=http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/obo/9780195396607-0107|publisher=Oxford University Press|accessdate=April 18, 2015|doi=10.1093/obo/9780195396607-0107|year=2013|last1=Hope|first1=Trina|pages=9780195396607–9780195396707 }} He received a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1968.{{cite book|last1=McShane|first1=Marilyn D.|last2=Williams|first2=Frank P.|title=Encyclopedia of Juvenile Justice|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jiZ1AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA201|accessdate=April 18, 2015|date=December 18, 2002|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-4522-6527-8|page=201}}
In his 1969 work Causes of Delinquency, Hirschi posited his version of social control theory. He wrote that social bonds encouraged conforming behavior and prevented most people from committing crimes.{{cite book|last=Siegel|first=Larry|title=Criminology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9nH0kSUMwGIC&pg=PA210|accessdate=April 18, 2015|date=January 2, 2008|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-0-495-39102-9|pages=210–211}} In 1977, he and Michael Hindelang published a study which showed that IQ and social class were equally predictive of crime; IQ had been previously discounted as a correlate of criminal behavior. A 1983 paper in the American Journal of Sociology by Hirschi and Michael R. Gottfredson showed that younger age was associated with increased criminal activity independent of any other known factor. In 1990, Hirschi and Gottfredson wrote that lack of self-control, which was tied to parenting issues, was the cause of crime.{{cite web|title=Oxford Index: The General Theory: Self-Control|url=http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195396607/obo-9780195396607-0004.xml|publisher=Oxford University Press|accessdate=April 18, 2015}}
Hirschi held faculty appointments at the University of Washington, the University of California, Davis, SUNY Albany and the University of Arizona. He was a fellow and past president of the American Society of Criminology.{{cite web|title=ASC Presidents|url=http://www.asc41.com/pastpres.html|publisher=American Society of Criminology|accessdate=April 18, 2015}}{{cite web|title=ASC Fellows|url=https://www.asc41.com/awards/fellows.html|publisher=American Society of Criminology|accessdate=April 18, 2015}} The organization also honored him with its highest distinction, the Edwin H. Sutherland Award.{{cite book|title=The Encyclopedia of Theoretical Criminology: Travis Hirschi|pages=1–3|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|doi=10.1002/9781118517390.wbetc133|chapter=Hirschi, Travis|year=2014|last1=Schreck|first1=Christopher J.|isbn=9781118517390}} In 2016 Hirschi won the Stockholm Prize in Criminology.{{cite web|title=Criminology Prize Winners 2016 Announcement|url=http://www.su.se/english/about/prizes-awards/the-stockholm-prize-in-criminology|publisher=Stockholm University|accessdate=July 20, 2016}} He died in January 2017 at the age of 81.[http://asc41.com/obituaries/obituaries_home.html 2017 OBITUARIES - TRAVIS W. HIRSCHI]
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- [https://www.britannica.com/biography/Travis-Hirschi Biography] at Encyclopedia Britannica Online
- {{Google Scholar id|qfW3v74AAAAJ}}
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Category:American criminologists
Category:University of Arizona faculty
Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni