The strain theory states that deviance is more likely to occur when a gap exists between cultural goals and the ability to achieve these goals by legitimate means. To get a decent job in today’s society requires a college degree. The average four year degree is almost $10‚000 just for tuition. We are expected to start school at a young age‚ keep up with homework‚ extracurricular activities‚ chores‚ and keep a job to pay for future expenses. It is extremely hard to earn enough money to pay for your
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“Robin Hood and Little John running through the forest jumping benches‚ dodging trees just trying to get away.” (Robin Hood. Disney:1973) This is one of the first lines of my favorite Disney movie. The title of course being “Robin Hood”. The animated version of this classic tale where our main character is a delinquent who robs the wealthy to help feed the poor. Him and his comrade‚ Little John find every opportunity to rob from the greedy‚ and ruthless Prince John. All the goods they steal they
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Strain theory was originally pioneered by Robert K. Merton and it was later expanded on by Robert Agnew. Merton’s strain theory argues that individuals engage in deviant or criminal behavior when they cannot achieve socially approved goals by legitimate means (Merton‚ 1938). Essentially‚ deviance is the result of the strain that individuals feel from not being able to achieve their goals through legitimate means. Merton used the American Dream ideology to explain his theory. For example‚ the American
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There are programs that are created specifically to address a youth’s exposure to negative stimuli and to help them develop coping strategies and better behavior (Piquero & Sealock‚ 2000). Agnew and his generalized strain theory also have some options for how to deal with these particular types of crimes and the people behind them. These options involve cognitive‚ emotional‚ and behavioral strategies to help the individual cope better. The cognitive side deals with the
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According to Agnew & Passas (1997)‚ the Strain theory was established from Durkheim and Merton and out of the theory of anomie‚ which is the privation of typical moral or collective standards. Durkheim main focused was the declined of societal and the strain that occasioned on an individual level. Merton focused on the cultural disproportion that occurs between the norms and goals of the society. Anomie was divided into two categories; macroside and microside. Macroside anomie focused on the powerlessness
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Agnew’s general strain theory is an extension on Merton’s strain theory. This theory argues there are three sources of strain: failure to achieve positive goals‚ introduction of negative stimuli‚ and the removal of positive stimuli. These sources and lead to an affective state classified by depression‚ anger‚ disappointment‚ and a withdrawn state. This can also lead to antisocial behaviors like drug and alcohol use‚ violence and dropping out of school. Agnew’s theory can be seen in Nicole’s scenario
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General strain theory was meant to explain that stress caused crime‚ that crime was sort of a coping mechanism for stress. The main propositions of Agnew’s general strain theory were that there were three types of stain that produced deviance: Failure to achieve positively valued goals‚ removal of positively valued stimuli‚ and confrontation with negative stimuli. Removal of positively valued stimuli refers to stress of adolescents caused by loss of a person or thing of great worth‚ such as‚ the
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Merton used Durkheim’s concept of anomie to form his own theory‚ called Strain Theory. Merton argued that anomie is not created by dramatic social change‚ but rather by a social structure that holds the same goals to all its members without giving them equal means to achieve them. Merton stated that all members of a capitalist society have goals such as "wealth‚ status and personal happiness"‚ (Merton‚ 1938) and that the means available to achieve this success are unevenly distributed throughout
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One of the theories we talked about was the general strain theory by Robert Agnew. By added strain from others will take away the value we have towards something. The strain will be added among everyone involved. From this strain added by other people is how a person will respond. When the strain cannot be managed it will lead to crime. For example‚ if little Johnny who is eight years old has to come home from school everyday by the bus‚ and his mom is never around to take care of him because she
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role model figure to learn from as Trey does even though he had plans to go to college he was only going so he could play football and hopefully one day be in the NFL his SAT scores weren’t high enough when a recruiter came to talk to him through the movie we see that he is trying hard to study for the test and after his death we find out that he got his score high enough to get the scholarship everyone always focused so much on football that no one ever really stressed education to him. Doughboy on
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