Feb 23rd Notes 03 01 2011 Crime causation is in the social environments Societal conditions groups social disorganization are units of Anomic and Subcultural Theories Sociological Theories analysis Theories today Anomie Strain Subcultural Anomie Theory Durkheim Emile Durkheim French socologist Crime is normal healthy part of society Strain is episodic Suicide 1897 Anomic Suicide o Inability to regulate the GOALS of society Anomie normlessness o When society is not in equilibrium norms break down discontent Durkheim s Model Deviance Murton s Theory of Anomie Stresses Strains Anomie GOALS not regulated Suicide Americanized Durkheim s ideas Robert Murton 1910 2003 Classic anomie strain theory America anomic society Opportunity for success not equally distributed More emphasis in culture on goals than accepted means to achieve golas Strain Inability to regulate means by which people get golas Murton s Model of Anomie Strain Anomie Strain Means not regulated Ritualists Retreatists Rebels or Innovators Most criminal behavior Innovators Extensions of Murton Institutional Anomic Theory IAT Messner and Rosenfeld 1995 Crime and the American Dream American Dream Conductive to crime material success economic goals powerful others weakened economic goals infiltrate the family school the end justifies the means Critiques of Murton and IAT Only lower SES crimes explained Do we really have goals which everyone agrees on Non Utilitarian Crimes Other societies have similar goals but much less crime General Strain Theory GST Robert Agnew 1990s Other strains lead to crime not just failure to achieve material goals Individual levels o Goals being blocked o Adding negative stimuli o Removing positive stimuli Strain anger frustration Agnew s Model Strains Goals blocked adding neg stim or removing pos stim anger frustration coping strategies emotional coping cognitive behavioral crime Subcultural Theories of Delinquencies Subcultural Theories Motivation for crime lies in the ideas and values in small subcultures that conflict with dominant culture Committing crime conforming to values and expectations of subcultures Influenced heavily by anomie strains theory Mostly interested in lower class adolescent boy crime gangs Strain Subcultural Theories Albert Cohen 1955 Delinquent Boys Goals can also be about status and prestige Low SES boys go to school and realize they can t compete STRAIN Form groups gangs and flip middle class values Aggression becomes accepted valued Differential Opportunity Theory Cloward and Ohlin 1960 Low SES kids big discrepancy between what they want and what they can get Feel angry at the injustice of this Form gangs to deal with frustration to get goals Type of gang depends on opportunities in the area
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