Understanding the Comparisons of Routine Activities and Contagious Distributions of Victimization: Forming a Mixed Model of Confluence and Transmission

Abstract

Recently the borders between two theoretical traditions have become blurred. While “Routine Activities Theories” have come to dominate the theoretical landscape of criminology, “Contagion Theories” have either been subsumed under the former or entirely forgotten. In the following, the theoretical lines of Routine Activities and Contagion are reviewed and evaluated. Discovered is the issue that both theories are very similar yet also very different; essentially distinguished from one another by what each omits from the other. It is henceforth argued that the two disparate traditions might benefit from coalescence, whereby they are combined into a single theoretical construct and, further, explicate causal model. A new typology of contagion is provided, allowing for a larger model that incorporates both Routine Activities and Contagion while illustrating the coming-to-gather of individuals [confluence] and the spread of behavior beyond an original point of contact between actors [transmission].