et life in 1960's New York; a time where the mob ran neighborhoods and moved to promote social status in their controlled areas. The following paragraphs are several of those theories relating to the movie.
             Sutherland's Theory of Differential Association
             The old saying, "you are who you hang around with," associates with the whole basis of Sutherland's Theory of Differential Association. "According to Sutherland (1973: 5), criminal behavior is learned as a result of associations with others, and the propensity for innovating through criminality is dependent on the strength of those associations. Sutherland argues that criminal behavior occurs when definitions favorable to violation of the law exceed definitions unfavorable to violation of the law" (Lyman & Potter, 2000). Sutherland's Theory suggests that criminal behavior is a behavior that is learned through association. It suggest that by associating with those that are involved in criminal activities that it can be a possibility that you will eventually become involved in the same activities.
             In the movie A Bronx Tail, Sutherland's theory is demonstrated not through Calegero, but through his friends. The friends that Calegero grew up with learned more of the criminal behaviors than he did. The major contradiction of Sutherland's theory in this movie was that Calegero, who was around Sunny on a daily business, grew up to be a respectable young man. In the end it was his friends who were willing to create destruction when African Americans began to ride through their neighborhood. It was Calegero's friends who beat up an African American who was riding his bicycle through their neighborhood. Sutherland's theory was also apparent in the movie at the beginning of the movie when the group of boys where young and they were doing imitations of the different group leaders. The boys were learning not only how to im...