Strain Theories Anomie Merton’s Theory General Strain Theory Institutional Anomie Theory Relative Deprivation Theory

Strain Theory: R.K.Merton. Merton used Durkheim's idea about anomie Anomie is the state of normlessness Rules of behaviour have broken down Rapid social change Personal life crisis Egoistic, altruistic, and anomic suicide

Egoisitic suicide Egoisitic suicide resulted from too little social integration Durkheim discovered was that of unmarried people, particularly males, committed suicide at higher rates than married people

Altruistic suicide Altruistic suicide, is a result of too much integration Individuals are so integrated into social groups that they lost sight of their individuality and became willing to sacrifice themselves to the group's interests The most common cases of altruistic suicide occurred among members of the military

Anomic suicide Sudden changes on the microsocial and macrosocial levels War, crisis, divorce, death, unemployment

Strain Theory: R.K.Merton. “Anomie is a state wherein society fails to exercise adequate regulation of the goals and desires of individual members” (p.165) in American society, there is a disjunction between the socially-produced and encouraged ends or goals and the means through which they could achieve these desirable ends

Strain Theory: R.K.Merton. In simple terms, they were socialised 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 provided in legitimate ways - hard work

Merton’s theory Because of this tension anomie occurs In a situation whereby people desired success - yet were effectively denied it - he argued that people would find other, probably less legitimate, means towards 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 5. Rebellion Rejects means Rejects ends

Merton’s Conformity Conformity applies to the law-abiding citizen These people accept both socially-produced ends and the socially-legitimated 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

Assessment Monetary success is the only one motive mentioned by Merton Some criminals are engaged into deviant activities for no apparent reason (enjoyable) White collar crime is not explained If the strains of life really operates as suggested by Merton, why it is most member of society engage in law-abiding activities

Robert Agnew’s General Strain Theory (1992) Original strain theory predicted a concentration of delinquent behavior in the lower class (monetary strain, status frustration) Research proved that delinquency was also common in the middle and upper classes (monetary strain cannot explain)

Robert Agnew’s General Strain Theory Strain for Agnew is neither structural nor interpersonal, but emotional Perception of an adverse environment will lead to strongly negative emotions that motivate one to engage in crime

Robert Agnew Believes that Anger has a significant impact on all measures of crime and deviance Strain ANGER Criminal Behavior

Robert Agnew’s GST Expands on traditional strain theory Include all types of negative relations b/w an individual and others GST maintains that strain is likely to have a cumulative effect on delinquency after reaching a certain threshold

Anger in your life Can you think of an negative event that made you very angry? How did you cope with anger? Who helped you to cope with your anger? How often do you experience anger?

Three major types of strain Failure to achieve positively valued goals (gap between expectations and actual achievements, not always long-term) Loss of positive stimuli (experiencing the stressful impact felt before and after moving, death of a relative/close friend) Presentation of negative stimuli (peer pressure, physical /emotional abuse)

Links Between Strain and Crime Anger was found to incite a person to action, lower inhibitions, and create a desire for revenge Agnew especially stressed that individuals who are subject to repetitive strain may be more likely to commit crime

Sources of Strain Social sources of strain (negative interactions with other people) Community sources of strain (some communities increase the likelihood that people get angry and frustrated and can be more prone to crime community level factors: economic deprivation, family disruption, fear of crime, child abuse, over crowding, bad housing)

Coping Strategies Other Than Crime 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 supports from friends and relatives) Try to escape negative stimuli. In addition, individuals may actively seek out revenge in a nondelinquent manner (Agnew, 1992:69)

Emotional coping strategies Relaxation methods Sport Meditation

Determinants of Delinquent Behavior If the initial goals and values of a person are high and they have few alternative goals to fall back on, then the person may be more prone to committing delinquent acts (beauty queen) Bad temper, previous delinquent behavior, delinquent friends

Agnew’s Theory Factors affecting disposition to delinquency Strain ANGER Criminal Behavior Constraints to delinquent behavior

Male Versus Female Strain and Crime Males and females have been found to experience different types of strain and different emotions

Sex differences in emotional response to strain (Agnew and Broidy, 1997:281-283) Female Male More likely to respond with depression and anger More likely to respond with anger Anger is accompanied by fear, guilt, and shame 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 Research indicated that females employ escape and avoidance methods to relieve the strain Females may, however, 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 Females form close social bonds in small groups Therefore, males are more likely to respond to strain with crime (Agnew 1997).

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

Critiques There is not much data to support or refute it Objective/subjective strain Measurement of strain

Institutional Anomie Theory Messner and Rosenfeld (1997) argued that the crime problem is related to “American Dream”, which they define: “a commitment to the goal of material success, to be pursued by everyone in society under conditions of open, individual competition” Teamwork/individualism

Institutional Anomie Theory This exerts pressure toward crime by encouraging an anomic environment “everything goes” mentality Individuals as well as social institutions are under the influence of “American Dream” ideology

Family Institution Individualism and independence for children Children are cut off any financial support very early (compare to other cultures) Early work is encouraged Family orient and train individuals for better paying jobs “Close ties” are sacrificed for the sake of achievement

Education Institution Quantity of courses vs quality of studying (written exams vs oral exams) Results: in a couple of years students do not remember much from the courses they have taken Education prepare and train individuals for high-paying job Religion has been undermined “Value” of people is measured by their material gain (Gates, Trump, etc)

Relative Deprivation Theory Messner and Rosenfeld, 1997 To fell anomie a person should see/feel deprivation People with the same social standing can have different sense of deprivation The poorest Americans are far richer in terms of material possessions that the average citizen of many third world nations

Relative Deprivation Theory Relative Deprivation refers to the economic gap that exists between rich and poor who live in close proximity to one another Stanford vs WSU

Relative Deprivation Theory Inner-city inhabitants develop an increased sense of relative deprivation because they can witness well-to-do lifestyle in nearby neighborhoods People start question their place in the reward structure of society Sense of injustice is the source of strain that can lead to criminal behavior