Cheng, Hongming2016-05-252016-05-252016-042016-05-12April 2016http://hdl.handle.net/10388/ETD-2016-04-2553Digital music piracy has persisted as a contested form of online deviance for more than two decades, garnering social, industry, and legislative responses. This dissertation outlines an integrated approach to explain this form of deviance through a combination of the networked society, social learning, and moral disengagement theories. This approach was developed based on three hypotheses; first, that technological competency defines online experience; second, that online experiences dictate the form of social learning encountered by users; and third, users’ social learning experiences shape the way they neutralize their deviance. The hypotheses were empirically tested using a data set of 616 cases drawn from a self-administered online survey. Linear regression analyses were conducted for each test and statistically significant models as well as linkages were developed for each hypothesis; however, moderately strong findings in some cases suggest that additional theory considerations should be made. This dissertation concludes with a discussion of the study’s implications, particularly as they relate to an increasingly pluralistic internet.engMusic piracypiracycriminologysociologysocial learningmoral disengagementmicrodeviationnetwork societytext