Strain Theory In Animal Kingdom

The four theories of deviance are The Learning Theory, The Strain Theory, The Social-Bond Theory and the Labeling Theory. These theories alone can explain the reasoning behind someone’s deviant behavior. But, in There Are No Children Here we see all of these theories being demonstrated. This lets us have an understanding of exactly why we are seeing the deviant behavior that we are.

Social learning theory states that crime is learned through social interaction, and the family is the primary association group. I believe John Wayne Gacy learned his serial killing criminality from his childhood family social interactions. John Wayne Gacy’s father use to physical punish his children with a razor strap and physically abuse his wife. Gacy’s father also use to call him names like a wimp and a girl. I feel that these violent interactions caused Gacy to form a direct association with violent behaviour. These events indicate that Gacy was exposed to violence and ridicule for his entire childhood. Previous statistics stated that the age that abuse occurs and the longer the abuse occurs, influence the severity of the impact of the abuse on a child’s adulthood. I feel that the timing, length and frequency of the abuse that Gacy encountered led to his serial killing behaviour.

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

The troubled life of criminal John Dillinger can be applied to Agnew’s General Strain Theory. Agnew’s General Strain Theory “assumes that people of all social classes and economic positions deal with frustrations in routine daily life” (Tibbetts, 2012, p. 120). The theory proposes three categories of strain: failure to achieve positively valued goals, removal of positively valued stimuli, and presentation of negative stimuli. Failure to achieve positively valued goals can be described as a disjuncture between aspirations and expectations, which refers to having a goal, but feeling as if the goal will not be attained; a gap between expectations and actual achievements, which is concerned with doing all things necessary and not getting what one expected to get; and a discrepancy between what is a fair or just outcome and the actual outcome, which involves doing something

Social process theories view deviant and criminal behaviors as evolving mechanisms learned through societal interaction. Social development theories view deviant and criminal behaviors as part of a maturational process. The process involves numerous perspectives including biological, psychological, and social, that all occur simultaneously as the individual progresses through life. In this paper the author will examine what different social process’s there are and how they support Pelican Bay State Prison: War Zone. The author will also provide different social issues associated with this prison system. In addition, the author will provide, if any, possible ramifications for social policy change?

The behaviors of individuals in this community could be viewed as cyclical, as many of these behaviors have been passed down from generation to generation. This idealism can be directly related to the theorists in the Chicago School, in that people can absorb deviant norms from the environments to which they are reared. I feel that the learning theories observed in this film are the differential association theory, as the characters show criminal behavior being emphasized with peers and how they learn to handle their strives, such as Jimmy killing Ray, Ray’s son killing Jimmy’s daughter. I also feel as though Pavlov’s classical conditioning theory was observed as people learn through associations between stimuli and responses, I feel that by Dave killing a pedophile he some how felt vindicated, because he was given no choice when he was abducted and tortured, in his mind maybe he felt as though this pedophile shouldn’t have the choice to live, and he could gain some power, again stimuli and

To lists some of the crime he has committed such as the case with vandalism, petty theft, grand theft auto, rape, assaults and assault with a deadly weapon, drug dealing, and attempt murder. Not only does the offense he committed affect him, but it has also caught up with him to do three years in prison. The use of Strain Theory is to examine deviancy within Nathan McCall’s life when he is confronted by the cultural goals that is within his environment and the institution means that enable him to achieve the goals. Within a healthy society, McCall will be acceptable towards the goals and suitable means to achieve the goals that society have impose upon on him. In contrast, when McCall cultural values and means becomes imbalance, he would encounter strain by adapting to five modes of adaptation.

Criminological theories have evolved considerably in terms of their interpretations of crime and deviance. Shifting away from the classical and neoclassical schools of criminology, we move towards a scientific approach that explains criminal behaviour as “determined by biological, psychological and social” (William & McShane, 2018: 25) factors. The question of what causes conformity and deviance is one that is asked by all positivist theorists. It is through the various positivist theories that we are able to answer this question and analyze both conforming and deviant behaviour, while simultaneously providing explanations for such behaviour. In the film Boyz N the Hood, we can see that crime is rampant, and through the multiple positivist

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.

Crime and deviance can be observed on many levels in society, ranging from speeding to illicit drug use and human trafficking (Kilpatrick et al, 1987). Social scientists and criminologists dedicate their careers to deriving patterns and developing interventions and programs for people who have had frequent contact with the criminal justice system. This paper will reflect on the types of criminal activities that occurs in the movie “Animal Kingdom”. Specifically, it will follow the actions and outcomes of the protagonist, Joshua “J” Cody. Hirschi’s Social Bond Theory and Agnew’s General Strain theory will be introduced and compared. Applications and limitations of these criminological theories will be discussed and used to explain main character’s motivations and justifications to initially become involved in and continue engaging in criminal activities.

It is known that crime is caused through imitation, arousal and desensitising. The social Learning theory (2009), looks at how people engage in crime due to their associations. It explains that a person’s behaviour is a product of the people who surround ourselves – people imitate those who people admire. Theorist Bandura (1997) had completed an experiment in which looked at

Why some people cannot escape from criminal activities while others never have any problems has been examined for decades. The study of criminology targets why individuals commit crimes and why criminals behave in certain situations. This criminology research helps to break down a true story on the film “Blow” which tells the story of George Jung, one of the most significant drug traffickers in the United States in the 1970’s. The film depicts several criminal theories on why George lived his life the way he did. This paper will explain the theories best noted in the film Blow about General Strain theory, Differential Association theory and Social Bond theory. These three theories help possibly explain why George became a criminal.

This theory has a different focus than typical theories; in this theory, conformity is emphasized, specifically, with the focus being on the reasoning behind why people conform and obey society’s rules, instead of why people deviate from norms. This theory operates under the basic assumption that delinquent behavior occurs because of a person’s bond or tie to society being weak or non-existent. There are four elements that make up this bond: attachment to others, commitment, involvement, and belief. Thus, the stronger the bond’s element, the less likely a person is going to engage in crime; likewise, the weaker the element of the bond is, the more likely a person is going to commit crime. Also, all four identified elements are said to be connected and interdependent, so a weakness in one element will more than likely lead to weaknesses in the other elements. In other words, these elements control a person’s level of conformity; crime control stems from one’s ties to conventional society. This theory also assumes that people are born naturally selfish; however, this is not a born tendency or trait. Rather, this means that the motivation for crime in society is evenly spread out since everyone has the same inclination for crime. Similarly, under this theory, the way people are controlled by society through these bonds is

Social Control Theory presents the idea that all humans maintain an inclination to act in a violent manner and the sole thing that prevents an individual from conceding to that inclination is the social connection they have with others; when this connection is hindered by abuse or neglect, the child is driven toward his or her impulse of violence and crime (Currie and Tekin 4). The last theory, Social-Psychological Strain Theory, suggests that the stress that is caused by abuse also has a role in driving an individual towards criminal activity (Currie and Tekin 4).

Criminologists and sociologist have long been in debate for century's to explain criminal behaviour. The two main paradigms of thought are between 'nature' and 'nurture'. Nature is in reference to a learnt behaviour where a multitude of characteristics, in society influence whether a person becomes deviant such as poverty, physical abuse or neglect. Nurture defines biological features which could inevitability lead to a individuals deviant or criminal behaviour, because criminality is believed by biological positivist to be inherited from a persons parents. However, I believe that criminal behaviour is a mixture of characteristics that lead to deviant acts such as psychological illness & Environmental factors. Therefore, this essay