General Strain Theory

The strain theory in criminology has a Durkheimian origin and was first linked to the study of crime by Merton (1938) and has been revised and extended for multiple times. Among the various revisions, the most recent, probably also the most prominent, one is the General Strain Theory (hereafter GST) proposed by Robert Agnew (1992). Before the discussion on the GST, I will first review briefly the development process of the strain perspective in criminology in order to truly understand claims of the GST and how it was built and extended upon preceding theories.

The earliest criminological theory that was relevant to the concept of strain was the Anomie and Strain theory proposed by Robert Merton (1938). While Merton certainly gave greater emphasis to the effect of societal level anomie rather

Merton borrowed the anomie concept from Durkheim who, being interested in the causes of suicide, proposed that the breakdown of traditional value and norm combined with an absence of new norms would be a possible source of rising suicide rate in France during the Industrial Revolution. More specifically, he argued that in either an economic disaster or an abrupt growth of power or wealth, the rapid change is not followed closely by a well-developed norm to govern people’s thoughts and actions and thus renders a situation of norm-less. This lack of norm and the strain it generates would lead to suicide. Based on the notion of anomie, Merton (1938) believed that economic success is a culturally valued aspiration in the American society. Meanwhile, the society stressed the idea of being successful at the expense of the emphasis on the legitimate means through which economic aspiration is realized and so the society experienced a demoralization which weakens the power of social norms regulating people’s actions. This societal demoralization or the anomic status sets the backdrop of potentially higher crime rates in the US. Merton (1938) claimed that there