Merton's Strain Theory Essay

These adaptation modes, except ‘conformity’, are the manifestation of deviant behaviors, in which ‘Innovation’ is more commonly related to crime. However, during the late 1960s, Merton’s strain theory lose its appeal to discuss the cause of juvenile delinquency, until the 1990s, Agnew reformulated and regenerated in his theory. He has formulated a distinct theoretical perspectives based on Merton’s theory of anomie and strain, which termed as General Strain Theory. Apart from Merton’s strain of goals and means, his theory argued that strains might increase the possibility of individual’s negative emotions, such as anger and frustration, and which further lead to the deviant behaviors (Agnew, 1992). Crime might be seen as a method for alleviating negative emotions and reducing strain. Agnew (1992) stated that it is
possible to measure the context of strain through subjective approach and objective approach. He introduced three categories of strain, which are the ‘blockage of goal-seeking behavior’, ‘the removal of positively valued stimuli’ and ‘the presentation of negatively valued stimuli’.
‘Goal blockage’ is defined as the failure of achieving justice goals; the ‘loss of positively valued stimuli’ often occurs when parents divorce, or friends or romantic partner died; and the ‘presentation of negative stimuli’ often occurs when people experienced physical assaults (Agnew, 1992). From these types of stains, goal blockage is similar to Merton’s theory of stain, which emphasis on the stress between cultural goals and means. The general strain theory pays more attention on the socio-psychological factors and the social environment. Furthermore, according to Agnew (1992), further studies found that not any of the strain experienced by youth led to deviance. Thus, he expanded his theory and argued that when people ‘are seen as high in magnitude’, ‘are seen as unjust’, ‘are connected with low social control’, and ‘create some pressure or incentive to engage in criminal coping’, their strains are most likely transform to crime (Agnew, 2011, cited in Skinner,
2011). General Strain theory has been widely used in Australia, especially in regard to racial differences, which I already mentioned and discussed as the part of ‘Australian Dream’.

To sum up, there exists plenty of evidence argued that Merton’s anomie and strain theories build the foundation of theories or even directly applied to contemporary society. In my essay, I focused on the Indigenous people who present two different values system at the same time. The differences and the conflicts lead these people to have problem on adapting the conditions, and further cause the crimes. Both Merton’s theories and the theories based on his contributions well explained the main cause of this as the contradiction between anomie and social structure. Thus, Merton’s theories can be considered as valuable theoretical perspectives for studying deviant and criminal behaviors.