Strain Theory In American History X

By 1968, Merton was clarifying his strain theory by arguing for a perspective that views socially deviant behavior, including criminal behavior as a product of social structure (Tibbetts and Hemmons, 2010). The social structure, for Merton, had to do with approved social means. While people can put forth an honest effort to attain the American Dream, Americans are more likely to do whatever it takes to get ahead. However, although doing whatever it takes to succeed might lead to criminality, Merton developed five “modes of adaptation” to strain. The first mode of adaptation is conformity. While many, if not most, people

When comparing rational choice theory to the Andrea Yates story it is evident that rational theory was in fact present throughout the duration of Andrea completing her heinous crime. According to the document provided via Investopedia, the rational theory could be defined as “... an economic principle that states that individuals always make prudent and logical decisions.” Throughout the case and its entirety, Andrea depicted characteristics of being fully rational and aware of her decisions. Several factors played a key part in determining whether or not Andrea Yates was rational at the time of the crime, factors such as; Andrea exclaimed that “she knew through a “feeling” that Satan wanted her to kill her children,” She struggled back and forth in her mind for one to two months about whether to take the lives of her children or herself. According to the rational choice theory document,

individualistic The explanation of how Subcultural Theories explain the habits and behaviors of the characters in the movie Boyz N The Hood will be applied. Subcultural Theories is plural for a reason, the former students of the sociologist Robert Merton who, expanded the anomie theory thus developing the strain theory. In addition to this, the strain theory essentially places culpability on the culturally accepted goal known as the American dream. The American dream places much emphasis on financial gain and success although, the lack of equal opportunities for all causes strain and crime often occurs because of this. In general, subcultural theories consist of several major points on which, emphasis will be placed on the following; Albert

As per strain theory teenagers and young adults partake in gang warfare resulting from their inability to reach their personal aspirations and as a result they conform to different ways of achieving such success.

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,

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

The differential association theory has become the most talked about learning theory of deviance. The theory focuses on how individuals can learn to become criminals. The theory does not have concern for why individuals become criminals.

During the past decades, various criminologists developed different theories in an attempt to explain the causes of crime within the society. In return they were successful, as of today it was adopted or accepted, indeed all of theories explain the root causes of crime. One of these theories is anomie or strain theory which originally argues that the lower class frustration to higher class causes crime (Merton, 1938) in attempt to explain why majority of the people who commits crime are lower class. In 1985 Robert Agnew a sociologist come to an interest of studying the theory and finds a potential for the theory in explaining several causes of crime in society, but due to its limitation he developed and reformulated the theory to widen its dimension or scope. After revising the theory he come up into General strain theory of crime and builds its foundation in 1992.

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 contrast although the strain theories explain some reasons why youths join gangs it does not explain why most youths do not join gangs even though they experience the same

The two most important components of societies are the social structure and culture. Culture deeply influences an individual 's beliefs, values, goals as well as his identity. Cultural goals are developed in accordance with the existing social structure of the society. The social structure of a society must provide the 'means ' for an individual to achieve his cultural goals. However, the social structure often fails in providing the means, thereby creating an imbalance in the fulfillment of the cultural goals. This imbalance that stems from the lack of necessary means to achieve socially accepted cultural goals leads to structural strain. The Strain Theory was propounded by Robert

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.

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.

Timothy Brezina analyses the development of general strain theory by reviewing classical theories and it addresses the limitation of those theories. It goes in-depth to explain different strain theories and their founders such as Merton, Cohen, and Cloward and Ohlin who were influential through the 20th century. The source also explains the relationship between strain and offending and offers an extensive list of references.

Strain theory is founded on the idea that the goals of a society and the accepted means of achieving said goal causes strain that can