Strain Theory
Criminology and sociology ascertain that strain theories explain how individuals in society are pushed by specific stressors and strains to perform the crime. These stressors lead to negative emotions associated with anger and frustration. To escape from the music’s negative emotions and sources, individuals always turn to crime or drug abuse to feel better and gain financial freedom. The first modern strain theory was conceptualized by Emile Durkheim, followed by classic strain theory by Robert Merton and later revised by Robert Agnew, who developed the general strain theory. The significant strain aspects theory tries to explain the types of strain associated with crime, reasons why strains are associated with crime and the factors that drive a person to respond or not to respond to music with a crime.
Concept of Anomie by Emile Durkheim
Anomie represents a social condition where there is a disappearance of the values and traditions that were common and popular with a specific community or society. Emile Durkheim developed the concept; he described anomie as a transition period during which the traditions and values that were once common with a particular community were no longer in use, yet new once was also not in place (Clinard, 2014). In his book, The Division of Labour in Society, Durkheim writes of how industrialization in Europe brought new complex labor divisions that left hundreds of workers jobless as they did not fit in in the job groups like before. He blamed the clash on mechanical solidarity, stating that organic solidarity could not cause anomie as it made sure that every individual fitted in the new system adopted.
Durkheim later elaborated his work of anomie further in his book, Suicide: A Sturdy on Sociology. His new work analyzed that anomic suicide was a way of ending an individual’s life driven by anomie experience. Durkheim established that the rate of suicide among Protestants was higher than that of Catholics during a study in Europe’s nineteenth century. The aspect drove the high quality of Protestants’ suicide that Protestants had cultivated a culture based on individualism compared to Catholics. The value for originality made it tricky for Protestants to develop solid communal ties that would have sustained them during hard and distressful times (Zhang, 2016). The rates were few for Catholics as their culture was more collaborative, which provided for collective cohesion and high social control within its members by minimizing the risk of anomic suicide. Durkheim concluded that strong, healthy social ties enabled individuals to survive periods of tumult and change in society.
Strain Theory According to Robert Merton
Robert Merton, an American Sociologist, states that society plays a significant role in promoting deviance among its individuals. He argued that individuals tend to conform to fit in and be accepted through the expectations and goals set by society. Merton argued that the standards set by the company pushed individuals to strain in situations whereby there was a gap between the set goals and the current state of the individuals (Merton, 1938). The reaction to strain by individuals, according to Merton, included: conforming to the approved set goals by society: innovation of unapproved ways to achieve the socially set standards: the rejection of the set societal goals and ways of achieving them and finding ways of escaping the goals and standards: Ritualism: Rebellion through rejecting the set cultural ways and replacing them with personal ways and goals.
Through his findings, Merton states that many American citizens had been socialized to believe in the American dream. The American dream had made Americans to believe that their existed a consensus which stated that individuals goals and dreams was based on achieving wealth and being successful. Merton’s findings revealed that there was no equal opportunities available to access nor achieve the set social goals (Merton, 1938). Their existed a strain between the socially set goals and standards that were encouraged by the community and the socially acceptable means that were set to achieve the goals. Americans were socialised that they had to work hard to achieve the American dream which forced individuals to innovate different ways of becoming successful. Those who could be employed to earn better pay got employment as other indulged into crime to achieve their financial goals as both of the individuals who became successful were respected in the society. The two results were a reaction by individuals based on conforming and adapting to fit in the societal system that valued success.
Anomie by Robert Merton
Durkheim demonstrated that anomie was a state where the behaviour of individuals was not in line with that of the society. Following in the footsteps of Durkheim, who discovered the concept of anomie, Merton was able to develop structural strain theory. In his theory, Merton used the concept of anomie to explain how it encouraged crime and deviance in the society. He argued that when the society was incapable of providing its citizens with the appropriate ways of achieving the set societal goals, individuals are forced to look for alternative ways which may violate the law and the norms of the society (Merton, 1938). If the society was not capable of employing each individual qualified for employment and pay them enough salary to sustain their wants, the individuals would turn to crime to earn a living. Merton concluded that crime and deviance was majorly attributed to the presence of social disorder which is as a result of anomie.
Robert Agnew’s (1992) General Strain Theory
Robert Agnew discovered that through the use of strain theory, deviance and crime could easily be explained. Agnew however suggested that this could be better explained by tying strain to norms and not to cultural variables and social class. He came up with a general strain theory that concentrated more on the emotional part of an individual and was not interpersonal or structural (Agnew, 2013). His theory gave much attention to an individual’s main social environment and how he associated with it. Agnew stated that the characteristics of strains that were highly linked to crime included; strains are perceived by individuals to be unjust, strains develop the urge to engage in unlawful acts, strain are perceived to be of high in magnitude and that strain are related to minimal social control.
Agnew categorised the sources of strain to include the failure by an individual to achieve a desired set goal that has lots of value. The other category of the sources include the removal or disappearance of positive stimuli for example the death or loss of a close person. The third source included the establishment or a negative stimuli for example experiencing physical or verbal abuse (Agnew, 2013). His theory tended to explain the crimes that were not majorly attributed to financial gain but rather crimes caused my emotional stress and exposure to the environment. The theory explains all the available sources that may lead to an individual experiencing strain.
How the Theory Accounts for Negative Effective States
Negative affective state is an individual’s personality that is highly attributed with the individual experiencing a poor state of self-concept and negative emotions. The states include guilt, anger, contempt and fear. According to Agnew, strains have the tendency of increasing criminal offending activities. Overly permissive behaviours drive children to engage in behaviours that that lead to crime (Agnew, 2013). The criminal behaviours are highly related with the fact that the individual is trying to run away from the fear that they are experiencing. Individuals may turn to the use of drugs to compensate for the loss of financial gain.
High magnitude strains lead to negative emotions which are adverse as high magnitude strains are difficult to cope and adjust to. The strains are always high to ignore and prompt individuals to indulge in drug abuse to escape from the reality and negative emotions brought by the strain. The higher the intensity of the strain being witnessed the more the rate of an individual experiencing psychological problems increases which may lead to depression (Agnew, 1992). Depression presents an individual with mental stress that affects the individual’s emotions leading to negative mental state.
Individuals who experience the experience strains that are perceived to relate to unjust tendencies always result to anger. Anger is one form of negative affective state which is one of the main response that is highly embraced by criminals (Agnew, 2013). This is because anger initiates the ability for individuals to act rationally which makes them to assume other means of solving issues in a peaceful way. Anger makes individuals to feel justified as they are able to apply extreme measures as an act of revenge on the cause of their negative state.
The four characteristics of strain that brings by the feeling of individuals having a negative affective state include: strain of high magnitude, availability of injustice, low social control and the drive to commit crime. All the four are the major causes of individuals experiencing negative affective states and are mainly connected to strain.
References
Clinard, M. (2014). Anomie and deviant behavior, 3(7), 906-103. Free Press.
Zhang, J. (2016). The strain theory of suicide, 4(8), 63-79. Academic Publishing.
Agnew, R. (1992). Foundation for a general strain theory of crime and delinquency. Criminology, 30(1), 47-87.
Agnew, R. (2013). When criminal coping is likely: An extension of general strain theory. Deviant Behavior, 34(8), 653-670.
Merton, R. (1938). Social Structure and Anomie. American Sociological Review, 3(5), 672-682.