According to Merton’s strain theory, the set-up of the society is in a way that it promotes deviance by people. Merton argues that the structure of the society regarding accepted goals or norms that people have to achieve piles more pressure on the people to conform to the structure (Vito and Maahs 2011). Individuals have to adhere to society culture or be termed part of the deviant subculture. Merton’s view was that the society should be responsible for the provision of resources or support to the people to enable them attains cultural goals. The lack of support and opportunities coupled with community emphasis on wealth encourage people to engage in crimes.
However, according to general strain theory, there are other factors which might incite an individual to engage in crime aside from the society pressure. They include a person’s inability to achieve certain goals, the negative treatment from other people, and the strain from the loss of valued possessions (Agnew 2006). Aside from societal cultural and social conditions, Messner and Rosenfeld further look at how weak control of non-economic social institutions like family, politics, and education has led to high levels of crime (Keesee 2009). According to them, the economic and capitalist-focused nature of the American society has resulted in institutional imbalance of power. As a result, this has weakened the effective control of non-economic social institutions leading to undesirable social behavior and increase in crimes or deviant behavior.
References
Agnew, Robert. 2006. Pressured Into Crime. Los Angeles, Calif.: Roxbury Pub.
Keesee, M. S. 2009. "Book Review: Messner, S. F. & Rosenfeld, R. (2007). Crime And The American Dream (4Th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth. 160 Pp". Criminal Justice Review 34(2):260-261.
Vito, Gennaro F. and Jeffrey R. Maahs. 2011. Criminology: Theory, Research, And Policy. 3rd ed. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
