Agnew's General Strain Theory

We have learned that many sociologists such as Merton, Hagedorn, Contreras and Agnews have given us their definition and take on anomie and strain theory, and focusing their lens on “street” crime in high poverty neighborhoods. The theory direct our focus to how society puts pressure on individuals to achieve socially accepted goals (such as the American Dream), though they lack the means, which then leads to breakdowns in, detachment from, norms. They argue that some substitute “counter norms,” “stretching” norms, and “innovate” to achieve their goals through deviance and crime. Despite these theories specifically focusing on crimes in high poverty neighborhoods, we can see a greater connections between Merton’s and Agnew’s theories in explaining …show more content…
Agnew’s General Strain Theory (GST) argues that strain or stress is a major source of criminal motivation, due to the failure to achieve economic goals. In the same reading, it gave us eight community characteristics that contribute to strain, and they are: selection and retention of strained individuals; failure to achieve positively valued goals. Relative deprivation, loss of positive stimuli/presentation of negative stimuli; aggregate levels of negative effects; increasing frequency of interaction with angry/frustrated individuals; increase likelihood of a criminal response to strain; and community crime rates have direct and indirect effect on strain. Out of the eight characteristics, I believe that failure to achieve positively valued goals and relative deprivation are the best explanation for white-collar crimes. Failure to achieve positively valued goals explains that communities with these characteristics are more likely to cause “goal blockage.” It is stated in the reading that “such communities lead individuals to place a strong emphasis on certain goals and make it more difficult for individuals to achieve these goals through legitimate channels” (Agnew 71). These goals can be economic success (money) and status/respect. …show more content…
Merton explained to us that our society’s strong emphasis on the accumulation of wealth as a symbol of success has caused both low socioeconomic level and white-collar crimes. Particularly white-collar crimes, the unreasonable pressure to obtain a certain level of success has a played a big part in influencing the person to innovate and invent new ways in achieving those goals. Agnew furthers Merton’s theory by explaining that people innovate because of other sources of strain, and not just strains relating to goals. He explains the daily pressure that emerge in certain communities from interactions with peers, bosses, and the market contribute greatly in affecting the individual’s emotional state and how they handle those pressures. For white-collar offenders, they are greatly pressured to stand out from their peers and to continually progress, and obtain greater wealth than they already have, therefore they are subject to react in a less-conforming way by breaking the

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