Bad Monkey And The Social Phenomenon Of Crime

This “strain” can take on two forms: individual or structural. Individual strain is a reference to one’s own needs and the pains that a person has to endure when trying to gain them. Structural strain is a reference to the pains felt to both fit and achieve on a certain level within specific contexts. All of this information points to strain theory fitting into the category of the Postmodernist School of Criminology. This school of thought teaches of how criminal behaviors are in fact used to correct inequality that is caused by society.

The motivation of criminals encompasses more than one common denominator, however, the degree of culpability and causation are within close proximity of one another. People every day engage in illicit acts for a myriad of reasons that run the gamut from white-collar crimes such as embezzling large sums of money to retail thefts. Gang related and drug-crimes that result in violence have plagued metropolitan areas throughout American. There is never any justification for taking someone’s life unless it is in self-defense, but people kill indescribably for material goods or money. Is it the Americans’ insatiable appetite and relentless pursuit of obtaining wealth and prosperity in achieving the American dream? Yes and no. For some people, this is the underlining-motivator for committing criminal acts regardless of the consequences. The perception of wealth in America as a viable solution for resolving problems is a mirage not a remedy. Even though this is a common known cliché that “money doesn’t buy happiness,” people continue to risk their freedom and commit criminal acts for such a dream. These are just a few irrational explanations of why people under the general strain theory, whether first offenders, or career criminals commit crimes. There are many exceptions, such as domestic violence, sexual assault, mental health problems, drug and alcohol addiction that contribute to criminal behavior as well.

The General Strain Theory consists of three characteristics. “1. Failure to achieve positively valued stimuli. 2. The loss of positively valued stimuli. 3. The Presentation of negative stimuli.” (Agnew, R. 1992) When all three characteristics are present one is more likely to commit a crime or be

Strain theory is described as the cause of crime due to the social class or environment in which a person grows up in. In our society, people strive to obtain wealth, education, materialistic possessions and power. Due to the environment lower social class people are born into, they are unable to obtain these aspirations through legal means. Feelings of frustration lead to strain and can cause these people to resort to external and illegal means to obtain these resources or lead them to abusing drug substances in an effort to feel better.

Over the course of time crime rates have fluctuated heavily throughout the United States, raising concerns for the general public. With that in mind many Criminologists have come together attempting to explain why, as well as how crime occurs. Dr. Robert Agnew has lead the charge in this field in regards to his affiliation with something called: The Strain Theory. The word, “Strain” in this instance can be defined simply as, “anger or frustration that results from negative relationships or experiences” (Hackworth 3). Now when making the correlation between criminology and this particular theory one must consider all aspects of a criminal’s life. Agnew explains this ideal further in his article, “Building on the Foundation of General Strain

A study by Moon, Blurton, & McCluskey (2008) sought to assess the effect of strains and perceived strains injustice on delinquency. According to the research, perceived injustice and recent strains on an individual have significant effects on delinquency. The researchers based their study on the Agnew’s Strain Theory. According to the theory, when strain is perceived as unjust and is

Although some positive findings come out, studies provide less support for the idea that a range of other factors conditions adaptations to strain. This finding may occur because the methodology of using an interaction term is too crude to capture the complex way in which strain is conditioned by individual and social factors (Agnew, 2013). Another possibility is that the conditioning variables identified by Agnew mainly have direct effects on criminal behavior rather than coming into play mainly when a person is under strain. There is also evidence that the combination of strain and anger increases the risk of criminal conduct. According to Mazzerolle and Piquero, what remains to be clarified is whether strain creates anger, which then

In summary, he believed that an individual’s associations are determined in a general context of social organization (for instance, family income as a factor of determining residence of family and in many cases, delinquency rate is largely related to the rental value of houses) and thus differential group organization as an explanation of various crime rates is consistent with the differential association theory. (Sutherland, 1974: 77)

Early theories such as the differential association theory state that behavior is learned; individuals are not inherently born an evil or deviant human being. The differential association theory has been considered by many criminologists to be the outstanding sociological construction of a more general theory of criminal behavior (Cressey, 1952). The theory states “A person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favorable to violation of law over definitions unfavorable to violation of law but associations may vary also in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity” (Cressy, 1952 p. 44). The theory also consists of nine counterparts.

Cullen, F., Agnew, R., & Wilcox, P. (2014). Pressured Into Crime: General Strain Theory. In Criminological Theory: Past to Present (5th ed., pp. 202-211). New York, New York: Oxford University Press.

The theory is said to be a way of expanding along with generalizing the strained notion at the level of psychology and understands behaviorally and emotionally cope with the strain (Agnew, 2001). It comprises the engagement of various criminal behaviors (Meadows, 2007). While earlier strain theory versions focused on the inability of achieving class-based or economic status goals as stressors, Agnew drew heavily from the research justice perception and stress exposure in broadening the strained concept. The concept includes various negative relations with other people. These relations comprise actual or threatened experience of not reaching the greatly valued objectives, losing

Edwin Sutherland’s “Differential Association theory” is a historical landmark in criminology. The theory became a vital part in integrating the perspectives of sociology in the study of criminology. The theory of Differential Association created a universal theoretical framework for research and a criteria for evaluating findings. As Akers discussed in his text-reader,

Differential Association theory was developed by Edwin Sutherland in 1972. He suggested that crime is a learned behavior. According to him criminals are not born. He also says that just because a person is taught to commit a crime, that doesn’t mean they will. Sutherland also says, that this theory main point is that the severity of much a person will embark on a criminal lifestyle, is dependent on the nature of personal face to face contact with our main social groups.

     The use of how the theory has been used, an increased number of studies have begun to focus on differential association.  As such, the theory itself is making a come back into the field of criminology, as well as several other disciplines.  Thus, Sutherland’s theory has been in use now for over 64 years and continues to be quite popular in explaining why individuals commit deviant acts.

Throughout history many sociologist and criminologist have developed theories to explain crimes in society. Robert Merton was an American sociologist. He believed societies like the United States create deviant citizens because they do not give them the tools to create “The American Dream”. There are various things that can turn a citizen deviant such as the inability to achieve valued goals, the presence of negative stimuli, and the removal of positive stimuli. A deviant citizen is not always a criminal, deviant citizens are simply defined as someone who goes out of societies norm. The behavior of citizens lead Merton to developed the Strain Theory. This theory explains how the strains of society effect and generate criminal behavior in order to achieve the American Dream. The American Dream is a social construct that has been created through media to promote an acceptable living status. The social status is constantly changing, but overall, it’s a reflection of upper middle class and possessing higher education. Countries like the United States have such a great emphasis on wealth, but don’t provide the things needed to achieve it. For example, if you attend public schools in a under privileged neighborhood you may not have the funds or opportunity to go to college. Not having a certain level of education can prevent you from jobs which has a ripple effect on your environment and home life. This ripple effect is well known in today’s society causing citizens