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Stress and coping strategies theory
Stress and coping strategies theory
Stress and coping strategies theory
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Applying the Goal to Merton’s Strain Theory
To own a home is always the desire of many people, especially migrants. But, it is easy to buy a house because it is so expensive. People have to earn a lot of money from their daily lives to buy it so that they also face to financial problems and psychological elements to get achieve their goals. In sociology, strain theory states that when individuals get their goals, they have to be under pressure of society. In addition, when they can not afford to achieve their goals and withstood the pressure at the same time, it leads to crime easily. According to “Strain Theory: How Social Values Produce Deviance” , Merton’ s strain theory has five types of deviance which are conformity, innovation,
For example, according to “2016 Election Analysis: Donald Trump Wins The Presidency”, Donald Trump is the 45th president of America with 277 points; he defeats his talented competitor who is a woman, Hillary Clinton. It shows that a lot of people bases on his property and power to support him. To explain for wage disparity between men and women is men’s symbol which presents for power. So, a lot of people have subjective thoughts which are, the men are more powerful than women. In addition, a lot of advertisements use men images which advertise for power and politeness with long-sleeved white shirts, ties, and vest. These images are very popular in daily life which also affects a certain part of sociological perspectives. So, it is the reason why men earn more money than women do for performing the same job with the same level of education and
Additionally, people contribute and support each other which develop the society. For example, adults work and pay tax for the government every year. The government uses the tax to support children who are studying in school, college, and university. Then, when the children grew up, they can earn money from their work; they also pay tax to support the adults when they retire. On the other hand, the wage disparity between men and women depends on positive viewpoint on men which is men’ strength. People think that the men are stronger than the women so that they can work and complete their position which is better than the women. Moreover, they can use their strength to support their co-worker. Thus, it is the reason why men earn more money than women do for performing the same job with the same level of education and
Strain theory is no different. During the 1930s, Americans were facing some of the worst, if not the worst, economical times in American history. The collapse of the stock market in 1929 lead to an era we now call “the Great Depression”. During this time extreme poverty and unemployment increased drastically, along with suicide and crime rates, particularly murder rates (Siegel 2010, p. 44). Robert Merton’s influence for the development of strain theory came from his observation of how influential the economic institutions were in regards to all other social factors. He drew heavily from Emile Durkheim’s earlier concept of anomie, or normlessness, to develop his own theoretical structure (Merton 1938; Merton
Majority of the citizens in the United States have always strived to obtain, what is known as the American dream. That dream usually involves having a well-paid career, a family, and having a big house in a neighborhood free from crime. According, Robert Merton in his theory of Strain theory believes that these goals are instilled at an early age, which these goals are held to all of its members in society; however the means of obtaining these goals are not equally distributed out. The means being defined as education, the concepts of hard work are ways to achieve these goals. Merton’s strain theory is an explanation of criminal behavior, according to the textbook, Adler, Mueller and Laufer (2010) defined Strain theory as “that people are law-abiding citizen, but when under great pressure will resort to crime. Disparity between goals and means provide this pressure.”(p.106) Merton goes that in a class-orientated society, opportunities to get to the top are not equally distributed. There are two important elements that in any society. The (1) cultural aspirations, or goals that people believe are worth striving for, and (2) institutionalized means to accepted ways to attain the desire ends. Inequality between goals and means fosters frustrations, which leads to strain. (Alder, Mueller, and Laufer 2010).
Women were always in a low position in U.S history compared to men. Due to the pay gap between men and women, it must make women lose status in the future. The gap will be haunted by people’s hearts, which allow some terrible ideas about unfairness existing in people’s minds. Let us supposed a woman, she works very hard and spends a great deal of time working, but her salary is still lower than men. Because of this, her motivation on working will be lost. Additionally, the population of men and women is equal. In this respect, we cannot bear the gender pay gap. In short, the gender pay gap has some shortcomings either.
The strain theory as defined by Frank Schmalleger (2017) is “a sociological approach that posits a disjuncture between socially and sub-culturally sanctioned means and goals as the cause of criminal behavior” (p. 164). That is to say that there is a relationship between the legitimate goals, which every human desires (e.g. wealth, happiness, status) and the socially accepted means to achieve such goals (e.g. education, work). The strain theory states that the legal and accepted means to reach these goals are often limited – therefore, crime occurs when as an alternative mean to reach some goal. Theorists of the strain theory would describe H. H. Holmes as an innovator. That is to say, he desired legitimate goals such as wealth, but it was combined with the lack of access to reach the means. In response, he participated in illegal activity – selling stole cadavers, swindling insurance companies, killing women for their money (Schmalleger, 2017, p.
The issue of equal pay between genders is still a problem in today’s society. Not to mention the argument of equal pay between genders of different ethnicities and minorities. A white man no matter his age, is unfairly paid more than a black or Mexican man. As well as a white woman can be paid more than both a black or Mexican man, and her ethnic female colleagues. Women of color are paid less than their male counterpart, not to mention the gaping wide wage gap between women of color and a white man. The many factors leading into why the wage gap exists or still exists is that men are stronger, and deserve bigger salaries. This is the main idea of sexism, and that women should earn less than men. When in some
Further data shows that in Woman’s lifetime, she will earn 77% of what a man will earn. However, there are controllable factors, such as job position, race, job industry and other factors, which affect the Gender Pay Gap. For instance, the US Department of Labor found that when such factors were considered, the gap ...
General Strain Theory was reinvented by Robert Agnew in 1992 and contributed a new perception to the present strain theory that was popularized a couple eras ago (Agnew, 1992). Classic strain theory is connected; first with Merton’s (1938), Cohen’s (1955) and Cloward and Ohlin’s (1960). Founded on Durkheim’s theory of anomie (1893), Merton industrialized his theory of deviancy inside a societal fundamental context. Merton’s interpretation on the topic is that goal-expectation inconsistencies, composed with social stratification generates strain between underprivileged societies in turn leading them to use any means necessary, such as criminal, in order to accomplish socially defined goals (Merton, 1938). Merton specified that deviance was a
Due to various countries initiatives to shrink the wage inequality between men and women wages in the work force, the gap has narrowed, respectively, which may have helped form such opinion. However, stating that the gender pay gap does not exist in today’s society, anywhere, is completely unlikely. Seeing that the gap has loosened its grasp in the working world, in other countries, the gap between pay has widened or remained stagnant. One cannot help but wonder why the gap remains consistent, even with such substantial progress made in countries where the gap has decreased. Reasons as to why gender wage gap exist so heavily, slightly differs from country to country, but the overall effect from the wage disparity is wholly evident.
In classic strain theory it is said that, Classic strain theory focuses on that type of strain involving the inability to achieve success or gain a middle class status. General Strain theory focuses on a broad range of strains, including the inability to achieve a variety of goals, the loss of valued possessions, and negative treatment by others. General Strain Theory has been applied to a range of topics, including the explanation of gender, race/ethnicity, age, community, and societal differences in crime
Although women have progressed in their role in society, they are still placed below men. As a result, there is a distinctive wage gap between working men and women. As of in 2009, recently graduated college women were getting paid an average of eighty-two percent of what males were earning (Dugas). This shows how men are constantly ranked above women, but only in specific jobs. Women receive the same amount of money when working in the fields of "bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks" (Dugas). These jobs portray the roles of women, therefore, thinking women are only equipped for certain jobs. This degrades women by only thinking that women have the capacity to accomplish jobs resembling the role of women in the household. However, the reasons given for why women receive less money than men are "their college majors, occupation, and the number of hours they work" (Dugas). It is explainable if the reason for getting paid less is the occupation, but there is no explanation for when there is a man and woman working in the same field and the woman i...
... people commit crimes and are not limited to one aspect like the original theory. For example, Merton strain theory just looked one aspect of blocked opportunities to unable achieve economic success. Differential Opportunity theory helped explain the different illegitimate means that causes people to commit crimes for example poverty and high concentrations of youth living in slums (Murphy & Robinson, 2009). Agnew General Strain theory takes a micro approach into looking at the different types of strain that causes people to commit crimes (Lilly et al.2010). Even though these theories explain certain aspects of what causes crime, it does not explain the sole cause of why criminal behavior occurs or why one commits different crimes. However integrated theories are helpful to understand certain aspects of why people commit crimes and engage in deviant behavior.
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 paper will explore the evolution of strain theories by first examining their intellectual foundations which laid the foundation for Robert Merton’s theories of anomie and strain. Merton’s strain theory will be discussed in detail including the modes of adaptation that people use when faced with societal strain. Finally, the paper will conclude with the strengths and weaknesses of Merton’s strain theory and an examination of the criminological theories and social policies it has influenced.
Gender inequality is present in all aspects of human society, from culture, politics, and economic stand point to personal relationships. Gender inequality can be viewed as a major problem especially within the business world (Corporation, 2016). In the past, men are seen as leaders in all aspects. For example, men could work without any criticisms, they could participate in political issues and were given higher education. Women on the other hand, were given no political participation, criticized for working outside the household as they were responsible for chores such as takes care of their children, cooking or cleaning and given limited education compared to men. Although there are claims rights equality of women in 21st century and much has been written about it in the field of business (Player, 2013), but there is still a gap between male and female. This essay aims to explore the impact of gender inequality in business and will analyze the details in terms of the men are given high pay and specific jobs over women.
Gender/Power is another contribution to gender inequality. Gender is a form of social control. The sociological significance of gender is that it is a device by which society controls its members. Gender/Power opens and closes access to power property and even prestige. Gender is inseparable from power and is defined by access to power. The statements "be a lady," or "be a man" are all based on culturally conceived ideas about gender. The images attached to labels such as feminine and masculine, not only guide our behavior, but they also serve the basis of power
One major reason why women are not being paid equally to men, is the way our society views working women. For example, women traditionally are not seen as the main “bread winner” of a household. In fact, in our society, men are traditionally seen as the main source of income. In our society one of the main arguments commonly used by those in favor of the wage gap, is that women take significant time off of work to have children. As a result, the time women take off work is deducted from their pay.