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Merton's Strain Theory: The Classical Criminological Theory

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The classical criminological theory was born during the Enlightenment Age. It highlights individuals having free will and choosing to make rational choices regarding criminal behavior. The theory assumes that individuals commit crimes based on possible benefits outweighing risks from their behavior (Tibbetts, pg. 5). 1600s English Philosopher, Thomas Hobbs, made the following assumptions about human nature. He said humans tend to act in logical way, but have a fundamental nature of self-interest. Hobbs’ theory states people can be influenced to commit crime. He used this to try and predict and reduce certain types of crime. 1700s political philosopher and criminologist, Cesare Beccaria, was one of the greatest theorists during the Enlightenment. Beccaria contributed the classical theory by …show more content…

Replace with their own goals and ways to achieve them (socialists and early communists). One weakness of Merton’s strain theory is it doesn’t explain why individuals that are similarly affected by strain do not always adapt similarly. Finally, take a stand and tell me which of the theories you think provides the best overall framework for explaining patterns in crime (make sure to explain why). I agree with Merton’s strain theory because it has the best overall framework of explaining patterns in modern day crime. The strain theory puts an emphases on people having the inability to achieve economic and class based goals. I believe most people turn to crime to acquire culturally accepted goals. For example, a person who sells illegal drugs on the street has rejected the socially acceptable means of making a living. The drug dealer still shares the broadly accepted goal of making money. By selling drugs they accept the goal of making a living, but reject the socially acceptable means by breaking the law. Furthermore, the drug dealer can accept social values but use criminal means of accomplishing

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While a few theories are not as regular, others have developed and are utilized as a part of numerous criminal reviews today. Cutting edge criminologists consolidate the most important aspects of sociology, psychology, anthropology, and biological theories to advance their comprehension of criminal behavior. Rational choice theory, psychological, biological, and strain theory are used to analyze the

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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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The strain theory is relatively close to the social disorganization theory, regarding poverty rates, and unemployment rates within

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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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His areas of study are Juvenile delinquency, Youth violence and Criminological theory. The main argument of the source is that General strain theory provides and explanation of crime and delinquency and that it is the latest and broadest form of strain theory. General Strain Theory represents a revision and extension of prior strain theories. “General strain theory is distinguished from other criminological theories by the central role it assigns to negative emotions in the etiology of offending. It is also distinguished by the emphasis it places on particular strains, especially strains involving negative social relations “ (Brezina, 2018).

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Criminology uses many theories to study crime, such as Social bond theory, Control theory social, containment theory etc. Social bond theory includes a various forms of social attachment theories. Attachment is a complicated process starting at birth with a maternal connection. This premature form of joint sets the standard for an individual's future attachments to friends, family members, co-workers and lovers. Control theory suggests a responsibility towards one's behavior.

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According to this theory, the people focus on making logical choice regarding the circumstances in which to commit crime. It is noticed that this theory makes use of utilitarian belief under which man is the actor who considers costs, means,

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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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I agree with your point on how the Strain Theory shows how America really does push people to do crimes. When you think and it no reasonable person wants their family to go hungry or lack shelter, so they commit crimes to which they believe is there only hope in order to provide some type of living. But, I do think it's more than the economy that pushes people to the streets. I believe it has to do more with the society as a whole that needs to understand why people commit crimes. More so, instead of just being about punishment we need to be more about rehabilitating people rather than punishing people for mostly non-violent

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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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In contrast, Merton’s theory is places emphasis on monetary success. He believes anomie is caused by the imbalance that results when cultural goals are overemphasized. Social strain theory is based upon two criteria: a person’s motivations or her adherence to cultural goals; a person’s belief in how to attain his goals. It was based on five criteria; conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism and rebellion. Conformity is the acceptance of cultural goals and the way that these goals are reached.

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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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The real sources to become economically successful in this county are to get an education and a job, which are two very limited sources for low-income people. They then turn to deviant behaviors to reach that “economic success”. In Merton’s Strain Theory he came up with five categories of people. These categories are conformists, ritualists, innovators, retreatists, and rebels. Conformists are people who believe in the cultural goals of society as well as the sources provided to accomplish these goals.

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The Structural Strain Theory says that deviance that there is a sense of imbalance between the "culturally values goals and the socially acceptable ways for achieving those goals" (Ferrante). This could occur in a variety of situations, including when the demand is greater than the supply for an opportunity, people are unsure of how to meet their goals, or people try illegitimate ways of achieving their goals. Sociologist Robert Merton has established the five ways in which people cope with structural restrain: (1) conformity, (2) innovation, (3) ritualism, (4) retreatism, and (5) rebellion. Such concepts can be applied to our society. For example, a person who lies on their taxes so that they may keep more money for themselves, rather than

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