Structural Strain Theory

Brezina, T. (2018).” General Strain Theory”. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology Available at: http://criminology.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264079.001.0001/acrefore-9780190264079-e-249. Timothy Brezina is from Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University. He gained his Ph.D from Emory university.

There are different beliefs within the strain theory, but as stated before, strain theory was developed around the belief that deviant behavior arises as a response to a problem that the individual cannot fix. The original strain theory was started by Robert Merton. He too believed that deviance occurred as a way to solve a problem. He believed this happened when the individual conflicted with societal values. In response to the cause of alcoholism, according to Merton one becomes an alcoholic when they choose to reject society’s goals and approved way of achieving these goals.

Deviance is defined as "any violation of norms, whether the infraction is as minor as driving over the speed limit, as serious as murder, or as humorous as Chagnon 's encounter with the Yanomamo" (Henslin 194). One statement that stuck out to me was sociologist Howard S. Becker 's definition of deviance: "It is not the act itself, but the reactions to the act, that make something deviant" (Henslin 194). One reaction that acts as a punishment for a deviant or minor criminal is the criminal justice system. On page 211 in our book, it is stated that "the working class and those below them pose a special threat to the power elite" (Henslin). As a result of this threat, the law and punishment comes down harder on the lower class than it does on the upper class.

Strain theory Strain theory is the state of a variety in certain strains and stressors in a person’s life that increases the likelihood of crime. A majority of life circumstances can lead individuals to create a crime from their negative emotions, such as frustration and anger. Crime may be used escape from strain, seeking revenge against the person or source of strain or any related targets. They come from social factors, such as lack of income or the level of quality in education the person has received.

1. How does Strain Theory define and explain deviance? Strain theory defines deviance as the situation whereby there exists a gap or difference between societal success goals and the determined means available to the society for achieving these goals. In a society, individuals share similar goals towards success and thus have agreeable means of achieving the same, however, when such an agreement is foregone such a society has a high rate of deviance.

With that being said, it is important to be sociological mindful. According to Schwalbe, “What counts as “deviant”—that is, what gets defined as abnormal and immoral—depends on the perspective of a person or group”. With that being said, deviance behavior is something outside the social norm. The news is full of what they consider deviance acts.

Deviance is behaviour that is violating the expected rules and norms of the society while deviants are the people in a society that assume what is considered a deviant identity. According to Box, The two are causally linked because deviance is committed by deviants (pg. 1, 1989). They are then conceptually linked because it is assumed that people who commit deviance could be classified as deviant because of their behaviour. According to Steven Box the problem with causally and conceptually linking deviance and deviants is these the deviants were seen as defective members of society, who some believed needed to be corrected through a tough minded view known as penal sanctioned punishments.

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. According to the theory, certain stressors or strains are responsible in increasing the likelihood of crime activities around the world.

Strain and Deviance: an empirical test of General Strain Theory of in a Philippine Public University LITERATURE REVIEW Theoretical Background 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.

Crime is any act which breaks the laws of society, such as murder, rape, speeding etc. Social control is enforced by agencies such as police and the courts, more specifically defined than deviance. Deviance is behaviour which moves away from controversial norms and values such as burping, pass wind in public and queuing. It Can be positive e.g. extreme intelligence. Although in some situation in nature – time dependent of factors, place, who is involved.

Deviance has many functions in society. Although deviance violates social norms, without it, we would not have rules, so it helps form, guide, and shape society’s norms and goals. Social norms are different from culture to culture. Norms that may be acceptable in one culture may be frowned upon in another. Emile Durkheim quotes that “deviance and deviant behavior is an integral part of all healthy societies (Adler, 2014, p74).”

Deviance and crime is a common characteristic of Canadian society. Deviance is defined as: “recognized violation of cultural norms” (2013, pg.465). While crime is defined as: “recognized violation of society’s formally enacted criminal law” (2013, pg.464). There are some universal similarities about what we as humans consider morally deviant, still, what is regarded as deviant or criminal behavior in Canada may not resonate with other societies. Some behavior “can fall right in between deviant and criminal” (Healy, 2012).

According to Hunt and Colandar (2011), a word deviant refers to when an individual’s actions contradict with society’s norms. For instance, majority peoples followed norms because society expect individual to behave in morally tolerate with each other. Those failing to conform the norms noted as deviant. In a social context, the task of the society is to blind the action of the social community together. Once failing to act them to the society’s reaction that seem as deviant.

Functionalists, conflict theorist, and interactionist all have different views and focus on different parts of society and its people. What is deviance? Deviance is a behavior, trait, or belief that departs from a norm and generates a negative reaction in a particular group (Ferris and Stein 151). It is considered a social construct.

Although the term deviance usually carried a negative characteristic in first impression trough out history, afterward the term positive deviance was also introduced and analyzed. To begin with according to (“positive deviance.org”2015), “Positive Deviance is established on the inspection that in every community there are certain individuals or groups whose uncommon behaviors and strategies enable them to find better solutions to problems than their colleagues, while having access to the same resources and facing similar or even worse challenges”. “Positive deviance somehow exceeds social expectations. Moreover positive deviance can also be defined as individual or acts of individuals in a society that are superior because they super pass