Anomie Macro and Strain Micro Theories Vold Chapter 8 1 Macro Anomie normlessness a Robert King Merton i Background 1 Birth name Meyer Robert Schkolnick a Changed name to get away from Jewish Heritage 2 From the slums of Philly to Harvard during the Great Depression 3 Said crime was aimed at getting ends ii Social Structure and Anomie 1 influential paper contrasts against biological 2 something in inherent in social structure that leads people to commit 3 Anomie assumptions crime a Criminal motivation not inherent must be explained i Social forces produces pressure to obtain ends 1 Everyone is expected to meet this standard ii There are weak regulations on how this imperative is to be met means 1 Access to legitimate means is limited go to illegitimate means to get what they need b A cardinal American virtue ambition promotes a cardinal American vice deviant behavior achieve at all costs i Cardinal main primary most important vital b Adaptations Culture Goal understands goals criminal is an innovator i e Al Capone don t buy the idea that you need to make money don t buy the idea that you need to make money Institutionalized legit means legitimate means jobs different route to obtain goals work anyway purpose of life is not the conformist idea mentally ill and drug abusers Conformity Innovation Ritualism Retreatism Rebellion want to redefine operate on different assumption of how world should operate usher out social structure and pose their own i e Castro c Albert Cohen Delinquent Boys i Juveniles engage in delinquency that is 1 Non utilitarian malicious and negativistic just acting out not rational ii Status frustration 1 Many youth cannot measure up to middle class standards in school iii Stress caused by difference between ascribed and achieved status 1 Ascribed that which is bestowed 2 Achieved that which is earned iv Solution 1 Creating alternative subcultures that defy conventional expectations 2 Collective response to individual problem d Cloward and Ohlin Delinquency and Opportunity i Gang adaptations defined by neighborhood characteristics 1 Criminal 2 Conflict 3 Retreatist a Could flourish in organized crime n hoods b Fights a Little or no legitimate opportunity structure b Earns money a Double failures focus on drug subcultures b Abuse drugs together no good for fighting or earning money e Policy solutions i Mobilizing for youth part of the war on poverty ii Program organized by Lloyd Ohlin emphasized 1 Improving education 2 Creating work opportunities 3 Organizing low class communities iii Dramatic failure 1 Unable to overcome opposition a Vietnam war money when there 2 Criticisms of Early Anomie Theory a Does just as good a job of explaining conformity b 50 s and 60 s booming economy yet more crime i Means to obtain ends are growing yet still crime c Low expectations and low aspiration are associating with crime contradicts Merton i High expectations and high aspirations should lead to crime according to what makes America so criminal aspiration Merton 3 Crime and the American Dream of money earn earn earn crime a Institutional anomie theory argue that b Messner and Rosenfeld i Achievement orientation dominates 1 Self worth determined by net financial worth non monetary aims diminished 2 Earn at ANY cost 3 No stopping point to earning never successful enough ii Individualism is the means 1 Success to be earned by oneself all credit of success goes to the individual 2 Others are competitions success of one comes at costs of others standing in the way a Rather than cooperation coordination 3 Everyone expected to compete 4 Restraints a Social institutions are designed to maintain norms and values in order to regulate conduct not sufficient to curb desire to achieve i Economy 1 Live in a world of scarcity 2 How much to healthcare Tax ii Polity electorate 1 How much power should each group have 2 How exercise power iii Education iv Family 1 Regulate future behavior b Currently there is an institutional imbalance in power i Say the economy dominates primary institution that defines our behavior a Devaluation 5 3 stage process of economic ascendency i Homeowner not homemaker has valued role ii Education is means toward an end 1 No such thing as learning for learning sake learn job economy c Penetration b Accommodation i Employers resist family leave sacrificing family to get money in job ii Schooling sought to get good job economics establishing its supremacy i Believe government is good if run like a business ii Movement of women into workforce iii Teaching to the test in schools measure of not having learning but closing the achievement gap 1 Everyone be above average no child left behind act General Strain Theory GST Micro 1 General a Individual pressured into crime b 3 sources of strain broader focus then Merton i Prevent or threaten to prevent the achievement of positively valued goals ii Remove or threaten to remove the achievement of positively valued goals iii Present or threaten to present negatively valued stimuli 1 Just happens unhappy frustration c Crime is one alternative to alleviating frustration i Make me feel better about negative stimuli ii Crime is solution to addressing problem d This results from negative emotions primarily anger 2 GST elaboration why do some people respond to anger with criminal behavior a Crime delinquency more likely is strain is i High in magnitude ii Unjust iii Associated with low self control b Types of strain i Objective 1 Commonly recognize as being wrongs death fired for no reason etc 1 Specific unique to you not commonly recognized getting rejected ii Subjective iii Vicarious 1 Felt by those in your immediate surrounding feel their paid from a team etc indirectly affected iv Anticipated 1 Think might happen to you haven t materialized but still a stressor company is downsizing c Neighborhoods i Why do neighborhoods have higher crime ii People with these strains are particular concentrated in specific places neighborhoods Learning Criminal Behavior Brown Chapter 8 1 Edwin H Sutherland a Main points i Social process oriented theory contrasts with structural theories e g social disorganization anomie ii Not limited to explaining lower class crime iii Crime is normal different from Durkheim s normal and pathological 1 Like biological something wrong defect with you if you choose to engage in crime b His contribution iv Crime is learned in interaction with others i Michael Adler report 1 Devastating critique of criminology a
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