[3][4] Sutherland solidified his reputation as one of the country's leading criminologists at the University of Minnesota, where he worked from 1926 to 1929.

During this period, he concentrated in sociology as a scientific enterprise whose goal was to understand and control social problems.

He was the author of the leading text Criminology, published in 1924, first stating the principle of differential association in the third edition retitled Principles of Criminology (1939:4–8) that the development of habitual patterns of criminality arise from association with those who commit crime rather than with those who do not commit crime.

[7] Sutherland discussed that the intensity of an individual will also determine if a person will agree with their pro-criminal definitions.

Instead Sutherland's theory suggests that having strong bonds to positive role models increases the chance someone stays away from crime.

[7] The theory also had a structural element positing that conflict and social disorganization are the underlying causes of crime because they the patterns of people associated with.

He remained convinced that social class was a relevant factor, coining the phrase white-collar criminal in a speech to the American Sociological Association on December 27, 1939.