Example Of General Strain Theory

Sanyika Shakur tells his life story in detail in his book, Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member. He tells how he lived from a very young age and survived the gang life in South Central L.A. during the 1960’s and 1970’s, which was during the startup of the Crips. He was born Kody Scott and he was born into a very poor family. He had an absent father and was therefore raised by a single mother. At the very young age of eleven Kody Scott turned his life over to the Crips. The Crips are a gang that is predominantly African American and the group is known to be one of the largest and most violent gangs in the United States. What enticed him to the Crips was the respect and glory that bangers received and the unity of the Crip set.

Jennifer Ebarhardt who, through her collaboration with different experts in various fields such as law, criminology, novel studies that further law enforcements and judges as well as criminology discover in her studies found out that there is racial bias in today’s policing and sentencing of criminals such that black color is stereotype as group of people who are associated with violence and therefore they mostly received death sentence especially when their victims are whites and therefore they are blacks who are arrested. These behaviors can be best explains using the following theories:

General strain theory was developed by Robert Agnew. There are three major categories in the types of General strain theory: Failure to achieve positively valued goals, the loss of positively valued stimuli, and the presentation of negative stimuli. A positively valued goal has three sorts and those are money/economic success, status and respect. Lack of money causes strain because it is not obtainable through legitimate means. Strain will result from the lack of autonomy disproportionately affecting adolescents and the poor because of their lower position in society. Those three types of strains will increase the likelihood of experiencing negative emotions in proportion to the duration of stress. The links between strain and crime is that

Aaron Hernandez is a previous NFL player for the New England Patriots. In 2013 Hernandez was discovered blameworthy of first degree murder. The next year he was likewise discovered liable of a double homicide. Why might a 40 million dollar rising star perpetrate such a wrongdoing? Numerous theories have been produced to clarify criminal conduct. While a few theories are not as regular, others have developed and are utilized as a part of numerous criminal reviews today. Cutting edge criminologists consolidate the most important aspects of sociology, psychology, anthropology, and biological theories to advance their comprehension of criminal behavior. Rational choice theory, psychological, biological, and strain theory are used to analyze the

One of the most complex criminal offences in Australia is property crime as it includes, but is not limited to, burglary, theft, arson, vandalism and shoplifting. “According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Recorded Crime – Victims data, between 2001 and 2009 there has been a decline in motor vehicle theft (57%), burglary (49%) and other theft (32%)” (Brown, 2015, p.1). This paper uses strain theory, the social learning theory; differential association and the social reaction theory or labelling theory to explain why property offences occur.

There are many theories that suggest that crime is constructed socially, or is a product of the society in which the crime is committed. One such theory, proposed by Robert Merton, is known as strain theory. While strain theory is a useful model for explaining how societal values can drive people to commit crimes, it has several flaws and does not focus on how laws are made and how this contributes to the formation of crime. While Merton suggests that laws are created from consensus within a society, it will be argued that strain theory can also support the idea that laws are a “product of conflict” (Hagan 5).

Throughout this semester, we have covered various criminological theories along with their strengths and limitations. These theoretical perspectives provide possible explanations to why individuals commit crimes. In addition to, these theories are indirectly woven within cultural objects such as song lyrics, movies, books, and television. For my cultural object, I chose to analyze a book titled; There Are No Children Here, that encompasses a variety of criminological theories. However, in this paper I will examine how Merton/Agnew’s strain theory and its assumptions are illustrated within the context and characters in this book. Specifically, I will focus on Lafeyette,

Using strain theory, an alcohol has ultimately rejected the society’s goals of conforming to the societal values such as happiness and a stable job, such an individual essentially rejects the goals because they have been ultimately been unable to live up to the society’s standards.

One critique of the strain theory is how it overemphasis the position of the social class in regards to crime and deviance. As we know, the strain theory applies mainly to the American lower class as they struggle the most. Our lower class are faced with the lack of resources to help them reconcile their goals. However, by looking at the variation of deviant and criminal behavior, the strain theory does not adequately account for any type of crimes besides the normal street or neighborhood crimes. Additionally, crimes that are considered as being white collar, in which they are known in our middle and upper-classes.

In Social Problems, Anna Leon-Guerrero (2016) she states, “… The functional perspective, examines the functions or consequences of the structure of society. Functionalist use a macro perspective, focusing on how society maintains social order” (13). Society has created expectations on what is viewed as acceptable or unacceptable behavior and this can include criminal behavior. This is any deviation from the social norms that are agreed by the majority of the community and the violation of any existing laws that is passed by legislation. For an example, a single parent losses’ his or her job and are worried whether the rent is covered with his or her last paycheck or whether they will qualify for food stamps.

Strain theory is a crime theory that was developed by Robert Merton, an American sociologist. According to Robert, strain can be defined as the discrepancies that result from the goals that are culturally defined in reference to the means that are institutionalized and available to meet the set goals. As proposed by Merton, there exists a typological deviance that is based on two criteria; an individual’s belief in how the goals should be attained and an individual’s adherence or motivation to cultural goals.

Deviant behavior is the behavior that is different from the most powerful norms of the society or can also be defined as odd or unacceptable behavior. In sociological way deviance is simply any violation of societal norms. There are many reasons why a person has deviant behavior which includes biological , psychological and sociological explanations. the most popular sociological theories are Structural Strain Theory which was developed by Robert K merton as an addition of the functional point of view on deviance.The theory discovers the origin of deviance that these are caused by the difference cultural and the ways people use to achieve their goals

Juvenile Delinquency is a phenomenon that affects communities worldwide according to media reports, both print and electronic, where worrying images of youths involved in behavior outside societal norm has been highlighted. This issue has been studied by researchers locally, regionally and internationally where results has shown that delinquency has been influenced by a number of factors such as age, gender, race, family circle, environment, socioeconomic status et cetera.

The structural strain theory was developed by sociologist Robert K. Merton as part of the functionalist perspective. Strain occurs when individuals find it hard to achieve cultural goals through institutionalized means (Merton, 1938). This theory suggests that there are five responses to strain, which include conformity, ritualism, innovation, retreatism and rebellion (Andersen and Taylor, 2009). The responses are developed based on two factors, which are, first, whether the individual accepts or rejects the cultural goals of the society and second, whether the individual accepts or rejects the instituitionalized means of achieving them.

Social structure theories look at the formal and informal economic and social arrangements of society that cause crime and deviance. The negative aspects of social structure such as disorganization within a family, poverty, and disadvantages because of lack of success in educational areas are looked upon as the producers of criminal behavior (Schmalleger, 2012). The three major types of social structure theories are Social Disorganization, Strain, and Culture Conflict (Schmalleger, 2012).