In developing control balance theory, I have employed the technique of
synthetic integration, which involves conceptual integration through ab-
straction of ideas from existing theories, further bringing the components
of extant work together through a central causal process and through
specification of the contingencies that affect the operation of the theory.
Such synthesis also involves articulation of how the components of such a
theory combine to cause various effects. In this chapter, the details of how
synthetic integration was employed have been spelled out, and the way
that the resulting theory incorporates elements of existing theories or the-
ory fragments has been described. I conceive of the theory as a continua-
tion, or a temporary culmination, of the collective efforts of crime/de-
viance scholars who have gone before, and in this chapter, I have tried to
demonstrate that.

Since theoretical work is best pursued as a collective activity, control
balance theory should be no more than an intellectual bridge for further
advancement. The need for modification is already clear. In developing
the theory to this point, I was attentive to the criteria of adequacy set forth
in Chapter 2 which I used to evaluate prior theories in the crime/de-
viance area. In thus assessing the adequacy of my own efforts by those
standards, it is clear that much remains to be done, and my belief that the-
ory building must be a community endeavor is confirmed. Although con-
trol balance appears to be more adequate than most theories in that it
simultaneously expresses great breadth, much comprehensiveness, unusual
precision, and considerable depth, it does not ideally fulfill these criteria.
Improvement will depend on long-term feedback and modification stem-
ming from critical review and input by the scholarly community and
from empirical evidence. I hope that others will regard the theory as wor-
thy of such attention and will accept my invitation to use it as a vehicle
for trying to achieve a fully adequate general theory.

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