The Strain Theory Of Criminal Behavior And Is A Breakdown Of Why People Commit Crimes

An abundance of research has been conducted on how Robert Agnew’s strain theory can help better understand why crime is committed. However, limitations to this to theory have come to the surface. Some suggest that

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.

Merton developed a ‘strain theory’ building on Durkheim’s work. He said that crime was largely committed as a result of individuals not being able to achieve the goals impressed upon them by society (in his case the American Dream). This led people to turn to unconventional means in order to achieve these goals as they believe that happiness wealth and success are all interchangeable. While Merton does accept that everyone is different, he categorizes people into 5 adaptations to the strain; conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism and rebellion. Merton can be criticized as it is hard to believe that all people fit into 5 distinct categories with no overlaps. Furthermore Merton fails to explain non - utilitarianism crime, lots of crime is committed which does not financially benefit the criminals for example vandalism. Merton also fails to explain crime and deviance that isn’t committed as an individual

Strain theories of criminal behaviour have been amongst the most important and influential in the field of criminology. Taking a societal approach, strain theories have sought to explain deficiencies in social structure that lead individuals to commit crime (Williams and McShane 2010). Strain theories operate under the premise that there is a societal consensus of values, beliefs, and goals with legitimate methods for achieving success. When individuals are denied access to legitimate methods for achieving success, the result is anomie or social strain. This often leads an individual to resort to deviant or criminal means to obtain the level of success that they are socialized to pursue. This is the basic premise of strain theory. This

Another important theory of deviance is the structural strain theory. The structural strain theory is defined as when the goals in which society sets for an individual are not met, that individual will defer to deviance. A perfect example is throughout the entire movie of the images of the streets, the hopelessness in each frame express what the strain theory is based upon. It is the idea that crime and violence are an immediate result between people's goals and the means to accessibly achieve them. They cannot overcome their deviant behavior because it is necessary to survive. Another example is in the beginning of the film Doughboy had said he was going to store. Ricky asked him why, as he did not have any money. Doughboy yelled, "aww I don't care."(Singleton) Instead of conforming to how Middle American youths obtain money, such as chores, Doughboy has to find alternate methods of achieving. Doughboy robs a store and is arrested. In a society where economic status is held on a pedestal, change is very difficult. This shows there is an unequal distribution of wealth which is a major cause of violence and robbery. A common theory among Americans is that society wants what it cannot have. It there was an equal distribution of wealth the strain theory would not exist as people would be satisfied with what society gave them, there would not be selfish ambition to obtain all you can. Another

Social Strain Theory and criminal offending are seen by most theorist as a way of understanding what could be the causes of youth committing crimes. Theorist are very concern if social strain theory really does have the answer to why this is happening, but they also believe that the result may be inconclusive, because of all the different variables and independent variables that could be used in their research. We will take a look at this theory, and see if they and ask our participants from the state of Georgia inner-city neighborhoods a few question that they will supply their own answer to, and then ask them an open-ending question face to face and ask them to choose the answer that best state why they might commit a crime or not. If we are able to understand the results then we hope we can implement it into policy. And by incorporating it into policy, then we might be able to design a strategy that will help LEOs or other agencies to reduce youth offending, deter criminal acts and future crimes. Lastly, so with the implementation of social strain theory into the policy and the evaluation of the data, discussion and the questions we can create a foundation for further research studies to build on our results.

"When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw," (Kazi, 2017). The modern societies around the world put a high importance on preventing criminal activity and rectifying behavior that leads to crime. In an ongoing struggle against corruption, many sociologists, and psychologists have done in-depth research to understand what is the cause of crime in our society. Initially, in 1893, Emile Durkheim first came up with the idea called Anomie Theory to explain why offenses take place in our communities. Durkheim reported that crimes took place in our society because there was a lack of ethical norms and social standards within our communities (Walsh, 2018).However, almost half a century later, Robert K. Merton developed Merton's Strain Theory to thoroughly explain why some people in our society are more likely to commit crimes than the others who don’t. Merton’s Strain Theory argues that corruption not only occurs in our communities because we lack norms in our society, but are also caused by the strains that are present among us as individuals which influence people to commit the crime. In his explanation, people will resort to achieving success through illegitimate means when they are blocked from acquiring success through legitimate means (Walsh, 2018). After studying the classical strain theories, I think that Merton’s Strain Theory explains street crimes such as robbery, theft, assault, and drug dealing better than

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

Furthermore it states that humans, being conformists readily buy into these notions. However, access to the means for achieving these goals is not equally available to everyone. Some have the education, social network and family influence to attain these goals. The socially and economically disadvantaged do not have the opportunity, education or necessary social network for attaining material wealth and economic or political power. Thus the strain theory predicts that crime occurs when there is a perceived discrepancy between these goals and the legitimate means for reaching them. Individuals who experience a high level of this strain are forced to decide whether to violate laws to achieve these goals, to give up on the goals pushed upon them by society, or to withdraw or rebel.

In this essay, the comparison between and contrast between strain theory and labelling theory. The essay will start with the key features of each theory and then it will go into the main comparison of the two theories. It will go into to detail on the similarities and differences between the two theories. Strain theory is the theory developed in 1938 by Robert K Merton. It’s the theory that society puts pressure on people to achieve socially accepted goals. Labelling theory is the theory that the public act in the way that society has labelled them, which gives negative connotations towards that person. Both the theories, judge crime on the type of people and how they have been deemed, both theories try to explain crime from social perspectives.

Burglary has an undeniably large presence in society. Consequently, there is significant discourse surrounding the major criminogenic forces that motivate burglars. As a result, this essay asserts that to a large extent, strain theory provides the most effective explanation for burglary. However, this essay recognises the limitations of strain theory, thus the essay acknowledges the smaller, albeit still significant roles that theories like Seduction of Crime theory and Conflict theory play in explaining burglary. To develop this hypothesis, a number of factors are explored. First however, a definition of burglary must be established; for the purposes of this essay, the Common Law definition shall be used. Additionally, strain theory’s fundamental

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

Merton established other forms that an individual might respond such as conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism and rebellion these explained an individual goal and the access to the means. This can either present a negative or positive outcome. For Merton these responses to deviance show how society strains people hence the name of the strain theory. The strain theory can lead to the triggers of feeling s that can become rage and defeat by society which can lead to a result in crime. The prodigious of society can caused an individual to engage in deviant behavior. These deviant behaviors are not society real and norms. This can explain why people engage in cat fishing.

The strain theory, developed by Robert K. Merton in 1957 is not only a criminology theory but it is a sociology theory as well stating that individuals do indulge in crimes because the society exerts pressure and puts a lot of strain on them while they are on the process of achieving socially acceptable goals. A good example of this socially acceptable goal is the American Dream whereas examples of crimes committed under strain theory include

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.