Agnew's Adaptation To Strainue

Larson in “Serial murderers: The Construction” states that socialization is said to begin after birth. The social learning theory is a theory that uses the childhood of serial offenders to identify the main reasons for causation. The social learning theory examines the offender’s past for clues in explaining aggressive behavior. The central idea of this theory is the relation of childhood victimization or observation of violent acts to future activities in criminal behavior. According to Hickey, stress caused by childhood traumatization may be a trigger to criminal behavior in adulthood. It

Crime is adaptation to life stress. It is best understood in terms of the manner in which the individual experiences the biological, psychological and socially determined situations of his existence. (Halleck, 1967, p. 63) The modern police department was born out of urban mob violence that tormented the nation’s cities during the nineteenth century. The new police departments were replacements for the night-watch systems and relegated constables and sheriffs to serving court orders and running jails. Early police agencies were corrupt, brutal, and inefficient. (Walker, Popular Justice, 61) While some people are predisposed to criminal activity. The predisposition to crime is formed from the biological and psychological theories of crime and criminal behavior. The earliest studies on delinquents and criminal conduct sought to explain the presence of criminal behavior based on intuitions obtained from the biological sciences. This is not to suggest that biological theories are neutral in social, psychological, or environmental correlates; rather, the organic approach to delinquency and crime believes that the physical, neuropsychological, and chemical components of human nature offer more persuasive evidence than do all other alternatives. (Arrigo 8) The origin of human actions include aggressive, violent, and even criminal behavior – reside within the personality structure or cognitive processes of the individual. In this way delinquency and crime are not reducible to

What causes people to commit crime? This million dollar questions has place many criminologists and researchers searching for answers. In the past decades, people have tried to explain crime by referring to the earliest literature of criminal’s atavistic features to human biology. Recent studies have shows that crime is described in the social environment. While, no one theory can prove the causes of crime, strain theory has gain support in academic research for its five mode of adaptation.

In the 1980’s, Criminologist, Robert Agnew, presented his theory of general strain, in which he covers a range of negative behaviors, especially how adolescents deal with stresses of strain. General strain theory focuses on the source, such as anything that changes in the individual’s life that causes strain. His theory provides a different outlook on social control and social learning theory for two reasons: the type of social relationship that leads to delinquency and the motivation for the delinquency (Agnew, 1992). He states that certain strains and stresses increase the likelihood for crime such as economic deprivation, child abuse, and discrimination. These factors can cause an increase of crime through a range of negative emotions. For some people it can take a lot of willpower to take a corrective action and try to deter away from committing crime in a way that they can relieve these negative emotions. When people cannot cope with the stresses of the strain, they turn to crime as a coping mechanism. Agnew also states, that not all people that experience the stresses of strain will go forward to committing crime and live a deviant life.

Robert Agnew discusses that an individual who is African American may deal with more strain throughout his or her life. These strains could be found in the community, or even in discrimination. If there is discrimination towards a certain race more than others, they may be more likely to engage in criminal activity as a way to relieve this strain. When dealing with gender strains, Agnew and Broidy researched the strain difference between boys and girls. They believed boys focused more on strains that resulted in anger and aggression, causing them to engage in more criminal

In today’s society, we as Americans have this belief that we as individuals can achieve a goal that cannot be obtained in other countries. This belief is what drives most, if not all, Americans to succeed. The belief that drives us Americans to financial prosperity is known as the American Dream. While some people obtain this dream through legitimate means, others however strive to obtain that same goal through some illegitimate means. The strain that crashes down on certain individuals to obtain financial success can lead to some going astray down a criminal path in order to meet those goals that many individuals around them had achieved. This strain is known as Agnew’s General Strain Theory.

Sociologist Robert Agnew introduced the General Strain Theory (GST) in 1992, which argues that strain is the leading factor that causes someone to be delinquent or criminally motived. He categorizes three major types of strain that produces delinquency: the failure to achieve positively valued goals, removal of positively valued stimuli, and the introduction of negatively valued stimuli (Agnew et al., 2002, p. 44). These different forms of strain greatly increase the chances for an individual to experience negative emotions such as anger, depression, and frustration. When anger is the result of strain, Agnew et al. (2002) argue delinquent and criminal behaviors are more likely to occur. Until recent research, the GST has

In Merton’s version of the anomie/strain theory he pointed out five adaptations to strain: conformity, innovation, rebellion, ritualism, and retreatism. Conformity means that one accepts both the goal and the means. They may try to attain the goals with limited means. This adaptation is most common in society. Innovation means that one accepts the goals but rejects the means. This individual has a “by any means necessary” attitude when it comes to the attainment of goals. Rebellion means that one rejects both the means and the goals. They may substitution those goals and means with their own goals and means. Ritualism means that one rejects the goals and responds to the means in a slavish and conforming attitude. Retreatism means one rejects both the goals and means, but they do not replace with their own goals and mean. Instead, they will drop out of society and into things such as alcoholism, drug addiction, and homelessness. This adaptation is the least common in society.

The Chicago school of sociology believed that there were certain aspects that were inherent within an industrialized city that could cause criminal behavior. The school and there researcher believed that the way to find out if this hypothesis was correct was to analyze and observed the regions in which the criminal and deviant activities were occur in. The school decided that to get a better idea of how this was affecting the area they would have to get involve with the community and do some field work to gage the response of the citizens within the area, and to ask questions and fill out surveys to gain a better perspective of the issue at hand. The research study was “a literary mode by sociological reporters, who provided dense descriptions documenting in rich and intriguing detail particular events and processes from their experience of being immersed with actual participants and getting to know their situated life patterns and belief systems” (“The Chicago School”, n.d.). The main purpose of this research is to ascertain if the Chicago school of sociology and “General Strain Theory (GST) share any type of relationship in regards to stress, criminal behavior that leads to crime, negative emotions base on the community in which they reside, and failure to achieve positively valued goals (i.e., status or money) because of their living conditions or environment” (“Review of the Roots”, n.d.).

Typically Agnew’s general strain theory can be recognized through street prostitution in which the prostitutes sells sex to the John in initiating either a positive or negative stimuli. For instance, when under pressure to alleviate any strain the negative emotion will come into play and through that can lead to three different types of coping strategies known as behavioral, emotional, and cognitive. The behavioral and emotional aspects looks at where an individual can be either criminal or noncriminal and includes the attempt to actually reduce the strain that is apparent.The example given that explains this phenomenon is when an

Strain theory is the societal pressure to achieve certain personal and societal goals through whatever means possible. The pressure to achieve these goals from within a disadvantaged societal construct and a perceived lack of access to opportunities to succeed increases the probability of deviance and criminality to achieve those goals. The paradox lies in the pressure for

(n.d). Under his five adaptations, individuals can be part of more than one adaptations to strain, however not all adaptations are departing from the norm. Conformity occurs when culturally defined goals and legitimate means of achieving goal are both accepted (Review of the roots of youth violence: Literature reviews. (n.d). This person will have a goal and attain that goal through the means of getting a good job or education. Ritualism, is when individual pursues the legitimate means but rejects the commitment of goal (Review of the roots of youth violence: Literature reviews. (n.d). A ritualism individual will get an education and work an eight hour shift, however doesn’t have the interest in achieving material power or wealth. In Merton’s five adaptations, conformity and ritualism are the low risk offending. Innovation is when individuals have legitimate goal, but have illegitimate means (Review of the roots of youth violence: Literature reviews. (n.d). These are the people who break the law by selling drugs to meet the goals promoted by society. This group has the highest crime rates, which are usually committed by uneducated and poor individuals. Retreatism occurs when both goals and means are abandoned, causing individual to be social disengaged and might partake in alcohol or drugs (Review

The first modern version of strain theory is Robert K. Merton (1938) which involves the inability of individuals to achieve culturally prescribed success goals, or “goal blockage”. In addition to this “goal blockage” Merton defines two types of strain; the failure to achieve these goals and the loss of positive stimuli and/or a presence of negative stimuli. Focusing on the goals that are “culturally prescribed” for success, specifically for juveniles, these could include money, status or respect, autonomy from adults, and thrills or excitement. Autonomy from adults is a key goal for juveniles because as a teenager, the juvenile strives to be independent and strives to be treated as an adult. Agnew, another prominent theorist of strain theory, lists eight types of negative treatment or presence of negative stimuli: parental rejection, parental supervision and discipline that is very strict/erratic/excessive given the infraction and/or harsh, child abuse and neglect, negative school experiences, abusive peer relations, criminal victimization, homelessness, and experiences with prejudice and discrimination based on ascribed characteristics like gender and race/ethnicity. “The frustration that results from this goal blockage increased the likelihood of crime; individuals may try to obtain money through acts such as theft and drug selling, may strike out at others in their anger or may focus on alternative goals that are conducive to crime (e.g., masculinity goals emphasizing toughness)” (Agnew 2012).

Although I could not find an article or experiment related to crime causing stress, I found the opposite. Strain theory attempts to explain that stress causes crime. Agnew’s general strain theory is considered to be one of the most accurate theories in explaining crime. He argued that the stresses from the

As we are growing older and facing different challenges in society, stress has been affecting us imperceptibly in either positive or negative ways. The relationship between stress and crime is interacted as a cycle. A stressful life experience can increase the risk for committing crimes, particularly “in the week after being exposed to stress, people were more likely to go on to commit a violent crime themselves” (Beall, 2016). Also, the other common reasons of commit a crime like greediness, anger, and revenge are usually linked to the social stress that they have received in their early life. These social stresses can be the result of the lack of social support, pressure from workplace, family abuse, and even the trauma from experiencing a crime. In an opposite, crimes can produce a large amount of stress to that person afterwards. The criminals may feel guilty for their misbehavior, and may evoke stress during a court trial, the sentences, life in the jail, and even their future life that has been labelled with “criminal”. With the repeated pattern, people who live surrounding with the criminals have a greater chance to develop stress and its associated crimes. The most important goal to lower the crime rate when we are dealing with societal stressors is to reduce their social stress by providing mediation, education, and proper social supports.