What Is The Strain Theory

Labeling theory is the view that society creates deviance through a system of social control organizations that label certain people as a delinquent or even juvenile delinquent. An example of someone being highly labeled would be John Bender. John was the criminal student who smoked, skipped school, and broke all the rules. John experienced labeling theory, ultimately by his dad as being a lazy free loader and by the principal as being the worst kid at the school. To compare, he also went through the strain theory stage, the stage when society puts peer pressure on an individual caused by the failure to achieves one’s social goals. John was labeled by his peers, father, and even principle as someone who did not care about the rules in school or succeeding in life. However, he had his own self-label where he accepted the fact that he was a trouble maker. Furthermore, an example in the movie is when he felt he was treated unfairly by the principle so, to get revenge he would leave the classroom and wandering the halls to make the teacher come find him and the students. With John demonstrating being the bad influence on his classmates, he puts peer pressure on all the rest of the students to display deviant behavior.

Labeling theory holds that individuals come to identify and act as per their labels. The major tenet of this theory is that the behavior and self-identity of individuals is affected by the way they are described by other people (Vold, Bernard, Snipes, & Gerould, 2016). According to this theory, the act of deviance is not implicit in a particular act, but is hedged on the inclination of the majority to ascribe labels to minorities in society who deviate from standard behavior. Labeling leads to dramatization of a particular act – which propagates the behavioral clash between the individual and the community. Through ascribing labels, the individuals acquire a negative self-image. The individuals accept themselves as labeled by the

Rebellion is the denunciation of both conventional and cultural goals, but aims to replace both foundations with new goals and means of obtaining these.

‘Labelling theory is the view of deviance according to which being labelled as a “deviant” leads a person to engage in deviant behaviour.’ This states that if a person were to labelled as a thief, that person would be treated different (looked down upon). This could leave this person to do what they are labelled as and commit theft. This is backed up with study.com’s definition of labelling theory, which states ‘people become criminals when labelled as such and when they accept the label as personal identity’. This moves into strain theory as the strain theory cultural theory as in Merton’s strain theory argues that ‘the American cultural

Once a person is labelled as a deviant, it is hard to remove that label. The Labeling Theory basically says that no behavior is deeply rooted on its own. It is society’s reaction to the behavior that makes the act deviant or not. Labeling is to give someone or something to a category and is usually given mistakenly. The people who usually doing the labeling have statues, numbers, power and authority. People with low status, power and authority are the ones that are being labeled.

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 movie Perfect Sisters, the theory that best applies is strain theory. According to Siegel and Welsh (2012) “strain theory suggests that while most people share similar values and goals, such as a good education, a nice home, a great car, and stylish clothes, the ability to achieve these personal goals is stratified by socioeconomic class. While the affluent may live out the ‘American Dream,’ the poor are shut out from achieving their goals. Because poor kids can’t always get what they want, they begin to feel frustrated and angry, a condition referred to as strain.” Sandra and Beth were discontent that their mother could not keep a job due to her alcohol dependence. They were upset that the mother kept spending money on alcohol. Leaving them with money troubles. Both became irritated that their friends had better materialistic items than they did. For example, Ashley, the popular girl in school, had big house and hosted big parties. Sandra admits to her that she is sort of jealous of her lifestyle and popularity. Sandra wants to be popular but doesn’t have financial means to obtain such status therefore; she dresses provocative to achieve popularity. Both teens previously talked to their aunt Martha who is “loaded” about moving in with her but she declined. They talked with their father about his obligation he has as their biological father but he lets them know he has a family and can’t take the girls in. They called social services but can’t get any help from them

In 1991 a hospital nurse named Beverley Allitt killed four children and attempted to take the lives of nine others, but was unsuccessful (“Beverley Allitt, n.d., para 1). Beverley committed all of these murders while she was working at the Grantham and Kesteven Hospital as a part of a six-month work arrangement (para. 5). Beverley’s actions and why she acted in this manner can be explained from the psychiatric, sociological and psychological perspective. Psychiatry viewpoints explore the motivation behind an individual’s criminal behaviour. Factitious disorder and multiple personality disorder can explain the reasons behind Beverly’s choice to kill four children under her care, and the reasons behind these horrendous acts. The sociological perceptive looks at factors including level of education, a persons social setting and positive or negative role models in a their life (Pozzulo, Bennell & Fourth, 2015, p. 338-341). Labeling theory and strain theory can help explain why Beverley killed four children and acted the way she did. Lastly, the psychological perspective looks at “mental process” of an individual, also the reasoning behind an individual’s behaviour and actions (Rao, 2007, p. 9). Addiction theory can be used in this situation and can help explain why Beverley killed four children and what lead her up to it.

The fourth criminological theory correlates with Billy’s circumstances and behavior is called the Strain Theory. The strain theory’s foundation lies in a term called anomie, which can be defined as being an individual who does not possess norms (Gaines and Miller, 2011, p.31). According to Gaines and Miller (2011), “anomie resulted when social change threw behavioral norms into a flux, leading to weakening of social controls and an increase in deviant behavior” (p.31). The strain theory proposes the breakdown of a social structure. It relates to Billy’s case because of his sense of family and sense of belonging that he must have repeatedly felt throughout his childhood as his parents took turns going in and out of jail.

Contrast to Subculture Theory, which had an affected action towards a group of people with the same set of common norms. I could also compare Strain Theory to Labeling Theory, which an individual is labeled as an odd-ball and because they weren’t playing by the rules of those in power. In the book Outsiders The studies of in the sociology of deviance by Howard Becker, the author writes about how society tends to place labels on individuals and that person can’t remove the title. “Majority of social groups in power will make rules and attempt to enforce them. These social rules will be defined situations as right and any other rules not established by the power group will be considered as forbidden or wrong” (Beckeif, 1963). Just like with Strain Theory, an individual who has broken a rule, which in some case could be just looking or acting different, cannot be trusted to live by the rules agreed by those in power and will be regarded as an

Society gives people a number of labels of deviant The labeling theory focuses on the reaction society gives off not the behavior itself. An unclear example of deviant is medical marijuana. Marijuana has been classified as a schedule one drug meaning it is just as bad as heroine and wouldn’t be considered in medical usage. Over time things have changed and medical marijuana has become legal in some states in the United States. So how does this relate to deviants? For example, say there is a man name Joe who just found out he has cancer. He knows that medical marijuana may ease his pain. Based off what state he lives in will determine if he is labeled with a deviant label or not. Say he lives in California where medical marijuana is legal.

The labeling theory, an example of constructivist perspective is the theory put forth to define how deviance is experienced and why people continue to be deviant. The labeling theory was developed by a group of sociologists in the 1960’s. It is a version of symbolic interactionism defining deviance as a collective action involving the acts of more than one person, and the

The deviant is one to whom that label has successfully been applied; deviant behavior is behavior that people so label.” Deviance is created by society and they are the ones who determine it, label the individual, apply rules, create laws, and enforce it. Interactions between people are what creates deviance, actions are done in order for society to deem it as deviant, and labeling theory is there to label the individual that goes against society’s norms and values. Once the person is known to have done the deviant act, they are segregated by society and labeled as biker, goth, drug addict, alcoholic, etc. Furthermore, this segregation by society creates “outsiders” or outcasts from society, who then being to associate with others that are treated in the same way. Therefore, the individual ends up in a cycle of deviance through labeling, segregating, and then association with other members that were

According to Bernburg et al. (2006), labeling theory is targeted towards one’s identity within the society, aiming at the labels that society placed on them because they might not fit the norm of society. Labeling is an act in which an individual is given a title they did not chose for themselves. Labeling has positive and negative consequences, but the labeling theory has negative connotation and it normally involves deviance. Once the title is given to the person, it affects their actions, beliefs, and attitudes. From the point on, the person becomes that “thing” he or she is described as and the person learns to live with that label. Once the person is labeled as deviant, they start to participate in deviant behavior. It is worthy to note