Karla Mea A.

Bacelonia
Johara S. Silongan
STRAIN THEORY

ROBERT K. MERTON

 Social Strain Theory was developed by famed American sociologist Robert K. Merton
who, in his discussion of deviance, proposed a typology of deviant behavior.
 Strain theories state that certain strains or stressors increase the likelihood of crime.
These strains lead to negative emotions, such as frustration and anger. These emotions
create pressure for corrective action, and crime is one possible response. Crime may be
used to reduce or escape from strain, seek revenge against the source of strain or related
targets, or alleviate negative emotions. For example, individuals experiencing chronic
unemployment may engage in theft or drug selling to obtain money, seek revenge against
the person who fired them, or take illicit drugs in an effort to feel better.
 The theory states that social structures may pressure citizens to commit crimes. Strain
may be structural, which refers to the processes at the societal level that filter down and
affect how the individual perceives his or her needs. Strain may also be individual, which
refers to the frictions and pains experienced by an individual as he or she looks for ways
to satisfy individual.
 Strain theory is an approach to explaining crime which tackles all or some of these
factors by way of accounting for the motivations behind criminality.
 Claims that there are certain social forces in society which generate pressures on some
groups rather than others and which find their expression in offending behavior. The
central source of these pressures is social inequality.
 All strain theories acknowledge that only a minority of strained individuals turn to crime.
 Emile Durkheim developed the first modern strain theory of crime and deviance, but
Merton’s classic strain theory and its offshoots came to dominate criminology during the
middle part of the 20th century.
 Classic strain theory focuses on that type of strain involving the inability to achieve
monetary success or the somewhat broader goal of middle-class status.
 Robert Agnew developed his general strain theory (GST) in 1992, and it has since
become the leading version of strain theory and one of the major theories of crime.
 Strain theory claims that there are certain social forces in society which generate
pressures on some groups rather than others and which find their expression in offending
behavior. The central source of these pressures is social inequality, whereby some sectors
of the community experience fewer opportunities and have less access to social and
economic resources- education, income, employment -than ‘mainstream society’.
 Strain theory explains deviant behavior as an inevitable outcome of the strain individuals
experience when society does not provide adequate and approved means to achieve
culturally valued goals.
 In Merton’s theory of strain, societies are composed of two core aspects: culture and
social structure.
 Merton argued that the cultural system of the USA was built on the ‘American Dream’- a
set of meritocratic principles which assured the American public that equality of
opportunity was available to all, regardless of class, gender or ethnicity. The ‘American
Dream’ encouraged individuals to pursue a goal of success which was largely measured
in terms of the acquisition of wealth and material possessions. People were expected to
pursue this goal through legitimate means such as education and work. The dominant
cultural message was if you are ambitious, talented and work hard, then income and
wealth should be your rewards.
 Merton developed this theory from crime statistics, using inductive reasoning. He
examined crime statistics by class and found that people from lower socioeconomic
classes were more likely to commit crimes that involve acquisition (stealing in one form
or another). Merton developed strain theory to explain why this is so.
 Merton developed the concept of ‘anomie’ to describe this imbalance between cultural
goals and institutional means. He argued that such an imbalanced society produces nomie
– there is a strain or tension between the goals and means which produce unsatisfied
aspirations.

The major versions of strain theory describe:

1. The particular strains most likely to lead to crime,

2. Why strains increase crime, and
3. The factors that lead a person to or dissuade a person from responding to strains with
crime.

Typology

 The systematic classification of the types of something according to their common

characteristics.
 The theory states that social structures may pressure citizens to commit crimes.
 Strain may be structural
 Strain may also be individual
 These types of strain can insinuate social structures within society that then pressure
citizens to become criminals.

2 Criteria of Typology of Deviance

 A person’s motivations or his adherence to cultural goals.

  A person’s belief in how to attain his goals.

Five types of deviance based upon these criteria:

Conformity- Involves the acceptance of the cultural goals and means of attaining those
goals.

Innovation- Involves the acceptance of the goals of a culture but the rejection of the
traditional and/or legitimate means of attaining those goals.

Ritualism- Involves the rejection of cultural goals but the routinized acceptance of the means
for achieving the goals.

Retreatism- involves the rejection of both the cultural goals and the traditional means of
achieving those goals.

Rebellion- Is a special case wherein the individual rejects both the cultural goals and
traditional means of achieving them but actively attempts to replace both elements of the
society with different goals and means.

+ acceptance

-Elimination

+- Rejection and substitution

General Strain Theory

Agnew’s (1985 and 1992) general strain theory posits that strain leads to negative emotions,
which may lead to a number of outcomes, including delinquency. The specific strains
discussed in the theory include the failure to achieve positively valued goals (e.g., money or
status), the removal of positively valued stimuli (e.g., physical abuse). While many specific
types of strain may fall into these categories, Agnew has attempted to specify the conditions
under which strain may lead to crime. Strain that are 1) seen as unjust, 2) high in magnitude
3) associated with low social control, and 4) create some incentive to engage in criminal
coping are most likely to lead to violence and delinquency.

According to general strain theory, individuals experiencing strain may develop negative
emotions, including anger, when they see adversity as imposed by others, resentment when
they perceive unjust treatment by others, and depression or anxiety when they blame
themselves for the stressful consequence.

‘The various types of negative emotions, anger have been identified as playing the key role in
mediating the effect of strain on delinquency and violence. This is the case because anger
“increases the individual’s level of felt injury, creates a desire for retaliation/revenge,
energizes the individual for action, and lowers inhibition” (Agnew, 1992:60).

Some studies of the mediating model in general strain theory have focused on anger as the
sole intervening factor in the relationship between strain and delinquency. Using data from
the 1966 Youth in Transition survey, Agnew (1985) conducted the first study of this kind
among tenth-grade boys. He found that the strain these boys experienced in school and at
home had both a direct effect and an indirect effect (via anger) on property offences, violent
offences, and status offences. Agnew also found that anger had the strongest effect on violent
offences.

Mazerolle and Piquero (1997) focused on how anger mediated the impact of strain on violent
responses among college students. They found that exposure to various types of strain
affected the students’ assaultive behavior, both directly and indirectly, through anger.

In contrast to the above, Mazerolle et al. (2000) found that strain only affected violent
behaviour directly in a sample of high school students and that anger did not have a
significant mediating role.

Agnew (2004) notes that survey research typically measures trait anger or the disposition of
anger, whereas general strain theory argues that strain produces situation-specific or short-
term anger, which in turn may lead to crime.

‘General strain theory has attempted to specify the factors which increase the likelihood that
individuals will cope with strain by committing crime. Agnew contends that crime becomes a
likely outcome when individuals have a low tolerance for strain, when they have poor coping
skills and resources, when they have few conventional social supports, when they perceive
that the costs of committing crime is low, and when they are disposed to committing crime
because of factors such as low self-control, negative emotionality, or their learning history.
Emperical research has offered some support for the above. Agnew et al. (2002), for
example, found that individuals with the personality traits of negative emotionality and low
constraint were more likely to respond to strain with crime. Such individuals are impulsive,
overly active and quick to lose their tempers.
Anomie Theory

 Anomie is a sociological perspective related to the social disorganization view. It claims

that deviance is the result of certain societal strains that place pressure on the individuals
to become deviant. This view was originally proposed by sociologist Robert Merton in
the 1930’s, although Emile Durkheim had used the term in another connection as early as
1897.

 Is the breakdown of social norms that results from society’s urging people to be
ambitious but failing to legitimate opportunities to succeed.

EMILE DURKHEIM (1858-1917)

‘normlessness’ ; when common morality declined or moral constraints to individuals are

weak.

Anomie- there are two usages of this term

 Societal Condition of too little social regulation

• Societal values changing or poorly defined

• Rewards uncertain

• Life is unpredictable

 Personal Condition or experience that is the result of too little social regulation

• Feeling of aimlessness, hopelessness, or despair

• Loneliness or disconnect from others

• “nothing matters”

 Durkheim argue that anomie, societal condition and personal condition is influence in
suicide that when the society is a condition of anomie and people have this experience of
anomie they more commit suicide.

 In studying suicide, Durkheim identified four types of suicide based on social causes:
 Egoistic
 Altruistic
 Anomic
 Fatalistic