General Strain Theory
The General Strain Theory (or GST) was created by Robert Agnew and outlines the reasoning behind as to why people are pressured into committing crime due to negative life strains. Robert K. Merton first introduced the strain theory in 1938. He went on to explain how the United States is an unusual society where we all share the same common “American dream” (Lilly, 2011). Merton (1968) warned that this ambition ultimately “promotes a cardinal American vice, ‘deviant behavior” (p.200), and that the social structure limits access to the goal of success through legitimate means (Lilly, 2011). Even though the theory gained much support in the 1960s, many scholars questioned the fact that all Americans do in fact have the same common goal. Robert Agnew suggested that Merton’s theory is “not so much wrong as it is limited” (Lilly, 2011). He went on to explain that Merton’s theory only identified one type of strain: “relationships in which others prevent the individual from achieving positively valued goals” (Agnew, 1992). People often compare themselves to friends or peers who make more money or have larger houses than they do. This is known as disjunction of expectations and achievements. The loss or removal of positive valued stimuli such as the death of someone close is quite evident as well to result in a personal strain. Negative stimuli such as child abuse, neglect, bullying, and school failure can all lead to strain as well (Siegal, 2003). There is a large range of tests on this widely accepted theory that helps give a better understanding of its basis.
Robert Agnew presents three different definitions for strain. The first definition he gives is that strain is “the actual or anticipated failure to achieve positively valued goals.” (Agnew, 1992) The second variation of the definition is that strain is “the actual or anticipated removal of positively valued stimuli”, and the third states that it is “the actual or anticipated...