Modern Strain Theory And Institutional Anomie Theory

First of all, what is “Social Strain Theory?” Robert Merton who is a theorist and creator of Strain Theory has allocated that “strains” are instigated by United States social structure which dictates equivalent goals in terms of success and job status within all members of society despite all members not having equivalent means to achieve money and success. Those that have that have obstacles in the way of achieving success and wealth experience strain and could engage in criminal behavior (Merton). In this theory Merton also created “Deviance

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

The General Strain theory is an evolved theory of strain theory created by Robert Merton, which was an adapted version of Anomie. “Anomie is a sort of psychological “state of confusion” in which an individual observes a conflict between the prescribed and commonplace social goals and the culturally-acceptable “legitimate” ways to pursue those goals.” (Kapelos-Peters, 2008). In simpler terms when someone is not doing what is socially acceptable because they’re are confused. 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

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.

Merton’s Strain Theory was established in 1957, and was a revision of Durkheim’s Theory of Anomie. Merton believed that the, “American Dream,” is the most significant causes of crime. People aspire to reach the American Dream that is portrayed through media and culture but the means simply do not allow it. In today’s society, people are expected to make it on their own and more often than not, this is impossible. People would eventually realize that reaching the American Dream for them is essentially impossible. This creates a strain, which is essentially a stress. These Strains can be from anything essentially, such as financial reasons, emotional reasons, or

Exploring the role of negative emotions among murderers in a population of federal offenders: the General Strain Theory

The theoretical framework of strain theory can be credited to sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim research on formed a platform for other sociologist to further develop strain theories of crime. One of which is Robert Merton. One of Durkheim’s major works that opened the door to further research on strain theories was his book, Suicide. In this book Durkheim sough to understand the why led to one’s own self-destruction. Emile Durkheim studied suicide rates and its association with crisis. Durkheim noticed trends in suicide rates that were associated with economic prosperity and economic crisis.

In 1938, Robert K. Merton further developed strain theory to state that societies put pressure on individuals to achieve a certain level in the class hierarchy if they want to be respected. The strain of reaching this level then makes them fall to the temptation of crime, including prostitution, selling drugs, or theft, just for a chance to gain financial security, because too many people are either unemployed or underemployed.

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.

Night night said my talking bird Leo even though it was 3 in the Moring molly my other bird was skimming so I get up and tell them to plez be quite it is 3 in the Moring go back to sleep so I go back to my room and they start again so I go and set near them so they would stop then I geve them a toy then my pet ferret got out and had molly be the neck she almost died I got some food and got the ferret his name is dude tacking my bird to the vet is hard you have to put them in a carer and get that carer in the car without sharing the bird so they don’t sharing in the car then u get dude I havent took him to the vet yet so I don’t know how to do it you want to be cater if you are going to feed birds if they are tame then you are fine but if they

Anomie theory posits that US society focus heavily upon monetary success, but places little emphasis upon how this success is obtained. Strain theory proposals a very similar concept, but focus upon smaller units within society. It argues that while everyone aims to reach the middle class standard of success, people in some groups will be unable to achieve it via legitimate channels. These theories suggest that people how commit crime are trying to accomplish the

The theory of General Strain is how the strain on an individual leads them toward criminal activities and behaviors. The main concepts of general strain theory explain how a negative relationship affects the individual and their future in the expansion towards delinquency. Negative or harmful relationships are defined as affiliations with others that are partake in similar criminal activity and how an individual believes they should be treated. The strain theory is broken down into three types: (1) Strain as the failure to achieve positively valued goals (Traditional Strain), (2) Strain as the removal of positively valued stimuli from the individual, and (3) Strain as the presentation of negative stimuli.

Robert Agnew developed his theory called General Strain Theory based off of Robert Merton’s Classic Strain Theory. Agnew introduced three types of strain. Generally, “the higher the dose of strain that a person experiences the greater the likelihood of the person becoming engaged in crime or in some form of deviance” (Lilly, Cullen, & Ball, 1989). A journal article called “General Strain Theory and Delinquency: the Developmental Process of Robert Agnew’s Works from a Historical Perspective” says that “the strain may result from when others (1) prevent an individual from achieving positively valued goals; (2) remove positively valued stimuli pertaining to individual; (3) present

Social Strain Theory is one of the many theories in criminology. According to our textbook, the definition of social strain theory better known as strain theory is that crime is generated from the acceptance of middle-class values that emphasize financial success while certain segments of the population are restricted from attaining monetary success by legitimate means. Essentially this means that everybody does not have the same opportunities. It means that sometimes people do want to achieve more but it hard for them. As you grow, one of the main things you are taught as a child is the American Dream. The dream that tells you one day you will be successful with a family and good job to support.

Strain theory is an occurrence within society where pressure to the juvenile to commit crimes, the juvenile is compelled remains in a specific settings like family and school. Therefore if said juvenile is experiencing pain or aversive it is hard for them to escape the situation. So to alleviate this discomfort they turn to crime, this mainly seen within the subculture of gangs (Agnew, 2012).