Transcript Strain Theories continued - Washington State University

Strain Theories
1.
2.
Merton’s Theory
Agnew’s General Strain Theory
American Dream
Strain Theory: R.K.Merton.


In simple terms, we are socialized
into the "American Dream" of
health, wealth, personal happiness
American society is structured to
ensure that the vast majority of
people could never realistically attain
these ends through the means that
American society provides in
legitimate ways - hard work
Merton’s Anomie

Anomie is a disjunction between the
socially-produced and encouraged
ends or goals and the means through
which people can achieve these
desirable ends
Merton’s theory
Because of this tension anomie
occurs
 When a desired success is denied,
people would find other, probably
less legitimate, means toward
desired ends.

Merton’s typology


Merton elaborated five basic
responses to the anomic situation
which he claimed to see in American
society
He classified these types of
conformity and deviance in terms of
acceptance and denial of basic ends
and means
Merton’s typology
Response:
Means:
Ends:
1. Conformity
+
+
2. Innovation
-
+
3. Ritualism
+
-
4. Retreatism
-
-
Rejects means
Rejects ends
5. Rebellion
Merton’s Conformity
Conformity applies to
the law-abiding
citizen
These people accept
both socially-produced
ends and the sociallylegitimated means to
achieve them
Merton’s Innovation


Innovation is deviant behaviour that
uses illegitimate means to achieve
socially acceptable goals
Drug crimes, property crimes
and some white collar crimes would
be examples of innovation
Merton’s Ritualism


3. Ritualism might refer to someone
who conforms to socially-approved
means, but has lost sight of the ends
(or has come to accept that they will
never achieve them)
Such people are likely to be elderly
and they probably enjoy a reasonably
comfortable lifestyle.
Merton’s Retreatism
An example of
retreatism is someone
who "drops-out" of
mainstream society. The
drug addict who retreats
into a self-contained
world, the alcoholic who
is unable to hold-down a
steady job
Merton’s rebbellion

Political deviance is a good example of the
rebellion response, whether this is expressed
in terms of working for a revolutionary group or
through political terrorism
Assessment



Monetary success is the only one
motive mentioned by Merton
Some criminals are engaged into
deviant activities for no apparent
reason (enjoyable)
If the strains of life really operates as
suggested by Merton, why most
members of society are engaged in
law-abiding activities?
Agnew (1992) and GST


General strain theory (GST)
Agnew postulated that strain does not
need to be specifically tied to
economic status because it is actually
a psychological reaction to any
perceived negative aspect of one's
social environment
GST

Hypothetically, individuals from all
social classes could engage in criminal
behavior because they could all
experience negative emotions arising
from strain
Robert Agnew’s General Strain
Theory (1992)

Anger has a significant impact on
all measures of crime and deviance
Strain
ANGER
Criminal
Behavior
What are Strains?

Strains refer to events or conditions
that are disliked by most individuals
Three major types of strain
Failure to achieve positively
valued goals
 Loss of positive stimuli
 Presentation of negative stimuli

Failure to achieve positively valued
goals

Gap between expectations and
actual achievements (not always
long-term)
Loss of positive stimuli
 Moving
to a new city/school
 Parental divorce
 Death of a relative/close
friend
 Break Up
Presentation of negative stimuli



Peer pressure
Physical /emotional abuse)
Stress, bullying and depression
ranked one, two and three
respectively in a list of incidents as
reported by elementary, middle and
high school students.
Top Ten Problems as Reported By U.S. Students*
Incident Type
Number
of Incidents
Percentage
of Total Incidents Reported
1.
Stress
910
15%
2.
Bullying
588
10%
3.
Depression
452
8%
4.
Family Problems
257
4%
5.
Fighting
216
4%
6.
Peer Pressure
185
3%
7.
Drugs
140
2%
8.
Cheating on Schoolwork
116
2%
9.
Cutting/Self-Injury
108
2%
10.
Suicide
107
2%
As reported by students enrolled in schools using
AnComm’s ‘Talk About It®’ anonymous online reporting
service. The annual AnComm ‘Talk About It®’ Report
sample includes more than 70,000 students enrolled in
52 schools across 12 states.
GST

While GST posited that each type of
strain ultimately lead to deviance for
slightly different reasons, all three
types were thought to increase the
likelihood that an individual would
experience negative emotions in
proportion to the magnitude, duration,
and recency of the stress
Agnew’s Theory
Factors affecting
disposition to delinquency
Strain
ANGER
Constraints to delinquent
behavior
Criminal Behavior
Links Between Strain and Crime



Anger was found to incite a person to
action, and create a desire for revenge
Crime allows individuals to obtain
revenge against those who have
wronged them
Crime may allow individuals to alleviate
their negative emotions
Coping with strain through crime






Why are some people more likely than
other to cope with strains through crime?
Bad temper
Low self-control
Previous delinquent behavior
Delinquent friends
If the initial goals are high and they have few
alternative goals to fall back on, then the
person may be more prone to committing
delinquent acts
Coping Strategies Other Than
Crime


A.
B.
C.
Crime is not the only way that
people will respond to strain
There are three different types of
coping strategies that enable the
individual to deal with the strain in
their life through legitimate
means
Cognitive
Emotional
Behavioral
Cognitive coping strategies




Enable the individual to rationalize the
stressors in three ways (Agnew, 1992)
Minimize the importance of the strain by
placing less importance on a particular goal
Maximizing the positive while minimizing
the negative outcomes of an event. This is
an attempt to ignore the fact that there has
been a negative event
Accept the outcomes of the negative
outcomes as fair
Behavioral coping strategies



Individuals may actively seek out
positive stimuli (social support from
friends and relatives)
Try to escape negative stimuli
In addition, individuals may actively
seek out revenge in a non-delinquent
manner (Agnew, 1992:69)
Emotional coping strategies



Relaxation methods
Sport
Meditation
GST and gender differences in
crime
1)
2)
3)
The levels and types of strain could
be different for girls and for boys
Boys and girls may have different
responses to the same strain
Gender variation in conditioning
effects (gender differences in
dealing/coping with strain)
The levels and types of strain


Boys are more likely than are girls to
experience strain because of negative
peer relations that are marked by
conflict, competition, jealousy, and
imbalance
Girls are especially susceptible to strain
caused by problems in forming and
maintaining positive relationships with
family and friends
Different responses to the same strain


Consistent with gender socialization,
when facing stressors, males would be
more likely to behave aggressively
Females would be more likely to
engage in more passive and selfdestructive forms of delinquency, such
as running away form home, alcohol
use, etc.
Sex differences in emotional responses
Female
Male
More likely to respond with
depression and anger
Anger is accompanied by
fear, guilt, and shame
More likely to respond with
anger
Anger is followed by moral
outrage
More likely to blame
themselves and worry
about the affects of their
anger
Quick to blame others and
are less concerned about
hurting others
Depression and guilt may
lead to self-destructive
behaviors (i.e. eating
disorders)
Moral outrage may lead to
property and violent crime
Sex differences in coping
strategies




Females employ escape and avoidance
methods to relieve the strain
Females have stronger relational ties that
might help to reduce strain (social support)
Males are lower in social control, and they
socialize in large, hierarchical peer groups
where they need to maintain their status
Therefore, males are more likely to
respond to strain with crime (Agnew 1997).
Empirical support


Numerous tests of GST had also
examined the relationship between
strain and negative emotion, yielding
mixed results
Several studies had found straininduced anger to be the primary
negative emotion to exert a significant
effect on deviance (Broidy, 2001 and
Piquero and Sealock, 2000).
Policy Recommendations

Agnew proposed several different
programs to reduce delinquency
which have shown success after
being implemented
Policy Recommendations


Family-based programs are designed to
teach the members how to solve problems
in a constructive manner, and parents are
taught how to effectively discipline their
children (Agnew, 1995)
This will reduce the amount of negative
emotions that result from conflict in the
family and will decrease the amount of
strain in the home
Policy Recommendations



School-based programs seek to improve
relations in and between schools
Peer based programs seek to reduce the
amount of strain that an adolescent feels
as a result of relationships with peers
Relationships with peers can be negative
when the peers are delinquent or when
they are physically or verbally abusive
toward other peers