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Agnew's Strain Theory Analysis

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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.
Strain or anomie theory “refers to the lack of social regulation in which the unrestricted appetites of the individual conscience are no longer held in check (“anything goes”); that is, a state of normalness where appropriate norms are not in place to inhibit deviant behaviour” (White & Perrone, 2010, p.73). “Merton argued that crime can be understood in relation to …show more content…

Agnew argues that the current adolescent generational cohort, in general, is ill-prepared to cope with the social, behaviour and academic demands that typically accompany such privileges” (Taylor, M., Marais, I. & Cottman, R., 2012, p.153). This example shows a clear link to Merton’s area of innovation as “individuals may subscribe to the culturally defined goals, but they do not have the institutionalised means of achieving them. This results in ‘innovative’ means to achieve their goals, and some of which include criminal activity” (White & Perrone, 2010, p.77). Adolescents therefore are prone to committing property offences, such as theft and burglary, because they are highly likely to commit to attain achievement of a goal that otherwise would be

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The strain theory implies that crime may occur because of the stress or frustration placed on people when

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Agnew’s General Strain Theory in There Are No Children Here Introduction 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.

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Within the past couple of decades, criminologists have developed different criminological theories that apply to the social behaviors and decisions of criminals. One of the earliest theories developed regarding criminality is the rational choice theory, in which describes the rationalization of determining if the rewards from committing the crime outweigh the consequences. In Scarver’s case, his decision to engage in criminal activities outweighed the potential consequences, or the other alternatives if he did not engage in such criminal activities. In addition to the rational choice theory, Scarver’s criminality can be related to the social disorganization theory, which describes the influence of one’s social and physical environment on one’s decision to commit a crime. Lastly, the strain theory can be related to Scarver’s criminality as well, as it is used to describe an individual who lacks the means to obtain such goals, and aspirations, so therefore, he or she engages in criminal activities to acquire the goals.

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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.

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a. Use Strain Theory to define and explain the following: i. The theft of a loaf of bread by a hungry person Using strain theory, the theft of a loaf of bread by a hungry person can be explained as a situation where an individual employs different means of success of getting fed, one that is against the agreeable ways in the society of getting money and feeding themselves. ii. Alcoholics 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. iii.

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One of these people were Robert Agnew who thought that strain theory could be very important in explaining crime and deviance that happens but that it needed to be in a different context so that it was not tied to social class or cultural variables, but have it focus more on norms according to society. “In sum, we would expect certain strains to affect crime in all or most societies, while the effect of other strains may differ across societies. A general strain theory that explains differences in criminal offending will systematically list all of those strains that function as “extreme stressors,” as well as those societal factors that affect the magnitude of given strains, the interpretation of such strains (e.g., their perceived magnitude and injustice), and the likelihood of criminal coping”(Sigfusdottir & Kristjansson , 2012).The general strain theory have 3 categories of strains according to Agnew which are the inability to achieve positively valued goals ,the removal or the threat to remove positively valued stimuli and to present a threat to one with noxious or negatively valued stimuli. The inability to achieve positively valued goals are difference between the expectation influenced by factors such as social class

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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.

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However, in the book, Criminology the authors have stated, “…Strain theory states that social structures within society may pressure citizens to commit crime” (Adler, G.M., & Laufer W, 2010, p.105). With the increasing stress, the child needs diapers and the parent has no money and enters Walmart, decides to steal a box of diapers, and is caught in the parking lot. The conflict theorist

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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.

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Merton. The theory states that society puts pressure on individuals to achieve socially accepted goals (such as the American dream) though they lack the means, this leads to strain which may lead the individuals to commit crimes. Two major concerns in strain theory are the sources of the strain, stress or how people adapt to the strain. Positivism are theories of social and structure are strain theories.

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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). 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

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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. General strain theory argues that frustrations and anger leads someone to deviance and may result into committing a crime (Agnew, 1992). GST defines strains as negative life events and conditions which are commonly disliked by the people who experience it or negative experiences of a person in a given group (Agnew, 1992; 2001; 2006). Strain is often classified in two distinct types, the Objective Strain and the Subjective Strain.

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Albert Francis Charles Augustus Emmanuel Cohen presented the theory of gang constitution that used Merton’s strain theory as a basis for why individuals resort to such group behavior. There are five adaptions to strain and of the five Sanyika was proximately cognate to the adaptation of revolt, which is the most complex of the five adaptations. Strain is considered the primary source for the development of criminals. According to Cohen, delinquent youths begin to value destruction of property and skipping school, not because these behaviors lead to a payoff or success in the conventional world, but simply because they defy the conventional norms and laws as good, thereby psychologically and physically rejecting the cultural system that has been imposed on them without preparation and fair distribution of resources. (Tibbets, p. 116)

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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

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Introduction 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.

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