Robert L. Burgess

Robert L. Burgess is an American sociologist and criminologist best known for his work in the field of social learning theory. He collaborated with Ronald L. Akers to extend Edwin Sutherland’s differential association theory by incorporating principles of behavioral psychology. Burgess has held academic positions at the University of Oregon and contributed significantly to the integration of sociological and psychological approaches in criminology.

Burgess’s most influential contribution is the Differential Association-Reinforcement Theory, developed together with Ronald L. Akers in the 1966 article A Differential Association-Reinforcement Theory of Criminal Behavior. This theory built on Sutherland’s idea that criminal behavior is learned through interaction, but added operant conditioning from B. F. Skinner’s behavioral theory to explain how deviant behavior is maintained or extinguished. According to Burgess and Akers, criminal behavior is more likely to occur when it is differentially reinforced—i.e., when the rewards for deviance outweigh the punishments or rewards for conformity. This integration of sociology and psychology laid the groundwork for Akers’ later development of the Social Learning Theory of Crime.