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Merton disagreed with the theory that social problems such as crime arose from individuals. He said that The United States places extraordinary emphasis on economic success, holds this up as a universal goal for all to achieve and yet its social structure limits access to these goals through legitimate means. This disjuncture between the goals or desires, and the means of achieving them is what places large segments of the population in a state of anomie. While Durkheim theorised that for many the only escape from the uninterrupted and unappeased agitation is suicide, Merton argued that it merely produces an intense pressure for deviation. In this way Merton’s theory proposes that it is society and the way that it is structured that causes …show more content…
They took a macro perspective and looked at what was distinctive about the culture of American society. Returning to the basic concepts of sociology they pointed out that the core components of the social system were culture and social structure. These were central to Merton’s anomie theory, culture being the American Dream and social structure being differential opportunity. Messner and Rosenfeld also highlighted the importance of social institutions (institutional anomie theory). They felt Merton had focused on only one social institution – the economy – ignoring polity, legal systems, educations systems, family, and religion. America’s culture of prioritising wealth interferes with the ability of institutions to socialise individuals into healthy, law abiding roles, everything is secondary to financial success. By examining countries with different levels of decommodification they found that countries with low decommodification scores had high murder rates, this is consistent with institutional anomie theory. If a society is characterised by economic dominance it will have unusually high levels of serious crime. They suggest that if there was less of an emphasis on the economy and the other institutions were given a greater focus, other goals such as family, education, polity and serving the community were encouraged, crime rates could be lowered and …show more content…
These characteristics include coping skills such as problem solving skills, social skills, and negative emotionality. While Agnew’s extension of his general strain theory still requires that an individual experiences strain which is perceived as unjust and in circumstances conducive to criminal coping, there is now the additional factor of an individual’s characteristics which may determine whether they resort to criminal coping or
The general strain theory hypothesizes that socioemotional problems cause strain in people’s lives and that the accumulation of stressors leads to criminal behavior. According to Agnew (2001), strain events can be characterized as involving “goal blockage, the loss of positive stimuli and/or the presentation of negative stimuli” (p. 323). These events can be seen by an individual as being unjust, undeserved, or threatening, especially for an adolescent. As we look back at the life of Jesse James, we
Merton’s theory consists of five things. Conformity is when one accepts conventional goals and strive to earn those goals through socially accepted means. The kids in the neighborhood, their shared beginning, could most likely not afford to attend college at USC. So some of them could apply for a community college. But realistically college was not a common goal for the kids, completing high school and going was even struggle. In their shared beginning we see innovation the most. The people accepting cultural goals, but rejecting the accepting way of achieving them. Instead of getting a job to have these means, they often resort to selling jobs or living off of robberies. They want money and items money can buy, but they do not want to have a job or work. This relates to all of the gang activity we see. Parents in the neighborhoods however, can be applied to ritualism. Single mother’s working one or two minimum wage jobs to support their families. They gave up on achieving the goal, but they still continue to practice the socially accepted practices for obtaining jobs. They are working these minimum wage, under-paid jobs forever to support their family. While some parents ae resulting to ritualism, even more result to retreatism in these communities. They are completely rejecting the accepted ways of achieving goals. Drug addicts and alcoholics are a common scene in the movie, those people fit into this category. Gangs which are the most common theme and factor in the movie is compared to rebellion. These people reject accepted goal and means, while replacing them with new ones. Gang activity in the movie in a sense of family and acceptance by creating their own goals and
Agnew’s general strain theory describes how strains are more likely to lead to deviance when the strain is associated with a low amount of social control. Sutherland and Akers take a slightly different interpretation of this. They recognize that social factors, such as race and social class, do have an influence on criminal behavior because of their effect on an individual’s likelihood of associating with others who present definitions of crime similar to their own. However, these theologians refer to the concept of social control in a different way that
The proposal of Robert Agnew’s General Strain Theory in explaining criminal deviance is based on three concepts. The first concept is that people are not naturally inclined to commit crimes. Rather, their transition towards deviant behavior begins when they experience strain. The second concept is that once strain is present, depending on the severity of the stain, a person becomes victim to their own negative emotions like anger, jealousy, and frustration. Their response to those negative emotions may expedite their transition. The third concept looks at a person’s ability to cope with the strain and negative emotions. If a person has poor coping abilities they tend to become overwhelmed by the strain and the negative emotions they are feeling as a result of strain. Poor coping abilities may cause someone to commit crime in hopes of rectifying their situation. (Agnew, 2011)
According to Robert Agnew, “Strain Theory is based on the idea that delinquency results when individuals are unable to achieve their goals through legitimate channels, achievement or strike out at the source of their frustration in anger”. (Agnew, R. (1985). A Revised Strain Theory of Delinquency. Oxford journals. 64(1).151-166). The norms are violated to alleviate the strain that accompanies failure. When a good look is taken at the theories the strains might not only come from peoples frustrations with acquiring “ The American Dream”, but it becomes a mixture of strains such as economic deprivation, abuse, neglect, or the loss of a loved one. However, most people that experience strains do not commit crimes.
Various theories have taken approach to this question however we shall take the perspective of Agnew’s general strain theory; to summarize Agnew claims he reasons that people commit crime as a response or coping mechanism
In the 1950’s, Cohen (1955) acquired Merton’s theory of crime further by concentrating on gang delinquency within the working class demographic. Cohen used the dominant knowledge of the anomie theory but narrowed its emphasis on this precise subculture and particularized it in order to clarify the features of gang delinquency. Comparable to Merton and Cohen, Cloward and Ohlin (1960) tried to clarify why certain individuals or groups are more likely to involve in criminal activities. They contended that people are strained when they fail to attain financial achievement through legitimate means. Cloward and Ohlin remained in...
There are five different forms of this theory, with two being represented by Llewelyn Moss, conformity and innovation. Inferring from the setting of this movie, the socially acceptable goals of the time were more than likely for a man to settle down and provide for his family. Moss attempts this conformity for as long as he can, until a better opportunity, the money, comes along. He decides that his current life isn’t enough for him, and attempts to innovate to raise his status in life. Unfortunately for Moss, he gets randomly killed by a separate party for the money, coinciding with the basis of Merton’s theory, that crime serves as a way to enforce these
Robert Agnew’s GST argues that any person on any social class can commit criminal behavior after experiencing the negative effects of strain (Anderson,). Therefore, strain can be caused by different factors that are not solely economic. Additionally, Agnew explains that crime is a result of negative states resulting from anger, frustration, and adverse emotions that lead to destructive social relationships. Agnew adds that anger is an important factor when deciding to commit because it can inspire the individual’s desire for
Merton recognised that individuals receive messages from society, which set acceptable behaviours to follow. He noted that a majority of citizens abide the acceptable behaviours, though there are numerous pressures that associate with the American Dream and the importance of the economy, which leads individuals to participate in deviant behaviours. Merton associated criminality and deviance with the American Dream goals, and how people attempt to achieve them, particularly the wealth component (Murphy & Robertson, 2008). Merton argued in 1938 that within unbalanced societies, the discrepancy between success goals and the endorsement of the means to achieve the goals, combined with limited opportunities manufactured the state of anomie. Further, Merton suggested that the anomic conditions in society were likely to tempt strain upon individuals, forming criminal behaviour adaptations. Particularly, the strain theory emphasised that those with high monetary aspirations are likely to innovate, resorting to unlawful activities, with the desire to channel success (Antonaccio, Gostjev & Smith, 2014). The strain theory connects to social causes, linking criminality with selfishness and egoism as the desire to
These emotions create pressure for corrective action, and crime is one possible response” (Agnew, 2001, pp. 319). According to Agnew (2001), if an individual interprets the strain as “unjust, high in magnitude, they have low self-control, and there is a pressure to engage in crime”, there is a high probability that the strain will result in a criminal act (pp. 320). A strain is defined as any factor that causes stress or has negative impact on an individual. If a person perceives strain as being unjust or unfair, anger will typically ensue and perhaps cloud their judgement. Agnew (2001) stated within his strain theory that anger has the largest effect on whether an individual commits a crime or not. This is because the emotion “disrupts cognitive processes in ways that impede noncriminal coping, reduces the actual and perceived costs of crime, and energizes the individual for action, creates a sense of power or control” (Agnew, 2001, pp.
This thinking proposed a new hypothesis based “on the relationship among strain, negative emotions, legitimate coping, and criminal/deviant outcomes. Their method came from self-report survey, and a nonrandom sample of undergraduate students at Northwestern University. Since this theory is based around behavioral characteristics one of the greatest ways to get the research is to run self report surveys; that is why this method was chosen and due to the larger sample quantity it made it easier to get back quality surveys. This study ended with a total of eight 896 students. This study is a smaller sample to see how the results come out and how the theory tests accordingly and if they can expand. They asked questions about five different sections: stain, negative emotions, legitimate coping strategies, illegitimate/deviant outcomes, and control variables. This study focused on how the different types of strain affected these students and how or if it leads to delinquency behavior or anger. This study offered support for general strain theory, but the discrepancies were the amount of support they showed for the strain/crime relationship. “Results suggest that strains are
There are many criminological theories that attempt to explain criminal behavior or crime patterns. For instance, Agnew’s General Strain Theory can be applied to explain why the criminal John Dillinger committed various crimes. Agnew’s General Strain Theory assumes that all individuals experience strain, which, in turn, causes negative emotions that can result in legitimate or illegitimate coping, depending on an individual’s constraints or dispositions. Thus, the continuous criminal behavior throughout John Dillinger’s life can be explained using Agnew’s General Strain Theory in relation to strain, negative emotions, and dispositions.
Featherstone, R., & Deflem, M. (2003). Anomie and strain: Context and consequences of Merton’s two theories. Sociological Inquiry, 73(4), 471-489.
The assumption that understanding criminal behaviour is the most important tool we have to combat the incidence of crime has prompted many philosophers, jurists, psychologists, psychiatrists, socialists and others to seek a plausible explanation for the commission of crimes. Their methods are diverse, some employing scientific means and others using empirical evidence to explore why people engage in “deviant” activity. The most convincing of these theories are those which explain criminal behaviour by reference to the individual, such as the classical theory, which views criminal behaviour as being the free and rational choice of the individual. The theory then offers proportionate punishment as a means to discourage people from reoffending or to deter others from acting criminally. Whilst the theory is not without it flaws, it is difficult to disprove such a theory in the absence of establishing the offender was not capable of rational thought at the time of committing the offence. On the other hand, social theories of crime provide clarity for social factors which may drive the commission of the offence but fail to offer the root cause for criminal behaviour because of the inherent breadth and generality of these theories. For example the strain theory, explains criminal behaviour by reference to external factors outside the individual’s control causing strain which leads to the commission of the offence. The theory does not adequately address the issue of why those undergoing the same stress do not turn to crime and so is not a true explanation of criminal behaviour – there must be more to it. Instead of viewing these theories as contradictory, preferring the one and ignoring the other, it is contended that Gabriel Tarde’s (Wil...