LATE 20TH CENTURY THEORIES OF CRIME

“THE CONTEMPORARY PIONEERS”

1. Robert King Merton (1938) – Named as Meyer Schkoinik on July 4, 1910, and changed his name to Robert
King Merton once he was awarded a scholarship to Temple University to accommodate his dire need to have a
name of a scholar rather than one given by immigrant parents of Jewish descent.

- He published innumerable works that have aided both graduates and fellow sociologists both then and now.
His publications broadened the realms of sociology and helped developed new genres of study within the field
such as crime and deviance related research. His most famous writings were Social Theory and Social Structure,
and On the Shoulders of Giants.

- Robert Merton is considered the premiere sociologist of the modern days who, after Durkheim, also related the
crime problem to anomie.

 What is Anomie?
 Anomie was one contributory factor to deviation: if people were not properly socialized into the shared
norms and values of society or if a society was changing so abruptly that it was unclear what those shared
norms and values were, deviance (and hence crime) was more likely.
 When access to values and goals is blocked to entire societies or to specific individuals, anomie develops.
Deviant behavior emerges as a result, and it is characterized by rebellion, detachment, ritualism,
innovation, and/or conformity. Most crimes are the consequence of change.

According to Merton, Anomie can be separated into two specific categories; macroside and microside.

Macroside – is caused when society fails to establish clear limits on goals and is unable to regulate the
conduct of members in the society.

Microside – more commonly referred to as strain, stresses its attention towards the breakdown of society and
the increase of deviance associated with this declining change that produces a stronger pressure among
members of society to commit crimes.

 Anomic conditions are no longer seen in the gap between needs and satisfaction, but in the discrepancy
between goals and means.
 The discrepancy results in a disorientation of the individual and causes psychological stress as well as
social conflicts. The focus of his interest is not the deviation of individuals (micro level), but the search for
the explanation of different deviation rates of different societies and groups (macro level).
 STRAIN THEORY

- Merton Advocated this theory, which maintains that the failure of a man to achieve a higher status of life
cause them to commit crimes in order for that status/goal to be attained.

- He argued that crime is a means to achieve goals and the social structure is the root of crime problem.
Merton’s explanation to criminal behavior assumes that people are law abiding but when under great pressure
will result to crime.

Two Kinds of Strain (Identified by Merton):

1. Structural Strain – caused in a large part of society, and results when society creates ideals and individuals
then struggle to meet these ideals.

- The theory states that society puts pressure on individuals to achieve socially accepted goals, though they
lack the means. This leads to strain which may lead individuals to commit crimes, like selling drugs or
becoming involved in prostitution as a means to gain financial security.

 Examples include parental rejection, child abuse, bullying, loss of job, loss of a loved one,
discrimination, and criminal victimization. However, the characteristics of some strains are more likely to
lead to crime.

2. Individual Strain – caused by the person themselves, as they create their own ideals and then struggle to
meet them.

 For example, individuals experiencing chronic unemployment may engage in theft or drug selling to obtain
money, seek revenge against the person who fired them, or take illicit drugs in an effort to feel better.

Merton’s Typology of Models of Adaptation

In order to be able to cope up with the pressure, individual recourse is made to one of the following 5 behavioral
patterns:

1. Conformity – acceptance of cultural goals and adaptation to social changes/accept the cultural goals of the
society and try to use the institutionalized means of achieving it.

2. Innovation - in contrast, accepts the cultural goal of a society but rejects the institutional means of obtaining
it.

3. Ritualism - shared by those who have abandoned the cultural goals of their society (e.g. materialism) but
continue to use legitimate means to make their way.
4. Retreatism - the adaptation of those who have both rejected the cultural goals of society (materialism) and
the legitimate means of achieving them.

5. Rebellion - refers to those who attempt to change a societal system to their own liking. Rebels replace the
dominant cultural goal — such as wealth attainment — with another goal and create their own means of doing
so.

2. Albert Cohen (1918) – was a prominent criminologist in America. His influential book Delinquent Boys:
Culture of the Gang is well-known for its Subcultural Theory of delinquent urban gangs.

 He advocated the Sub-Culture Theory of Deliquency. Cohen claims that the lower class cannot socialize
effectively as the middle class in what is appropriate middle class behavior. Cohen’s subcultural theory
assumes that crime is a consequence of the union of young people into so-called subcultures in which
deviant values and moral concepts dominate. Subcultural theory became the dominant theory of its time.

SUB-CULTURE THEORY

 Cohen's fundamental principle is that the majority of juvenile crime are associated with delinquent
subcultures. Subcultures are classified as societal subsystems or antisystems with distinctive attitudes and
norms that often go against the moral beliefs of the majority of society.
 Cohen believes that the union of young people into subcultures is a result of the members' problems
adapting to their new status and the inequality of the existing class society.
 Cohen argued that youth develop a cultural style as a means of coping with their particular circumstances
and of resisting the dominant values of society. This casts working class youth as the standard bearers of
class struggle.
 For example, a boy from a lower social class always strives to fit in with higher social strata, but he is faced
with expectations and goals that he cannot meet because of his social background or that he cannot achieve
because of strict social structures. He must accept that he has little chance of success in business and society
when directly compared to middle-class boys because of his low position, poor reputation, and lack of social
standing.

Cohen lists the following subcultures as delinquent:

 Non-utilitarian (the deviant actions are not committed on the basis of economic rationality)
 Malevolent (the objective of criminal activities is to disturb or even hurt others) 
 Negativistic (criminal actions are done specifically because of their prohibition in order to consciously
reject traditional values) \
 Versatile (in the sense of various delinquent behaviours that occur) 
 Hedonistic (the focus is on the momentary pleasure) 
 Resistant (to external pressure of conformity and loyal towards their own group members, values and
norms) 

 Subcultural theory is a blend of learning, anomie, and other theories rather than a theory of learning per
se. Subculture theory is unique in that it exclusively addresses juvenile delinquency instead of other forms
of criminal behavior.
 Cohen maintained that delinquent youths generally lack the means to achieve social status along
conventional lines, and in response they form groups (gangs) that invert the conventional expectations in
terms of which status is achieved.

3. Gresham Sykes – Gresham M'Cready Sykes was an American sociologist and criminologist. He is born on
May 26, 1922 – and died on October 29, 2010.

- He advocated the Nuetralization Theory. It maintains that an individual will obey or disobey societal rules
depending upon his or her ability to rationalize whether he is protected from hurt or destruction. People become
law abiding if they are feel benefited by it and they violate it if these laws are not favorable to them.

NEUTRALIZATION THEORY

Nuetralization Theory was advanced by the American criminologists David Cressey, Gresham Sykes, and
David Matza, portrays the delinquent as an individual who subscribes generally to the morals of society but
who is able to justify his own delinquent behaviour through a process of “neutralization,” whereby the behavior
is redefined to make it morally acceptable.

 Sykes And Matza Recorded Five Techniques Of Neutralization Of Criminal Behavior:

1.) Denial of Responsibility – “I was stressed out”, “I had too much to drink”, “I was in a bad mood” are all
examples of attempts to deny responsibility for the problem.

2.) Denial of Injury – The offender claims that her actions didn't hurt anyone.

3.) Denial of the Victim – A husband who is physically and emotionally abusive to his wife might tell her that
she deserves to be punished for making him upset.

4.) Condemnation of the Condemners – Being persecuted or punished out of spite. “I was arrested for
punching Angelo because his cousin is a police officer.”
5.) Appeal to Higher Loyalties – The last technique, appeal to higher loyalties, occurs when an individual may
feel the need to commit a deviant act in order to demonstrate loyalty to a personal subgroup by violating social
norms or laws. Over the years, additional neutralizations have been developed.

Example: “I stole Bob's car because I needed to take my granny to a doctor's appointment.”

 This Neutralization theory is for all. Poor or rich are in favor about this neutralization theory.

4. Lloyd Ohlin – Professor Emeritus Lloyd E. Ohlin, an expert in criminal justice who was well-known for his
work related to juvenile delinquency. He is born in August 27, 1918 Belmont, Massachusetts, US and he died
December 6,2008 Santa Barbara, California, US

- He was an American sociologist and criminologist who taught at Harvard Law School, Columbia University,
and the University of Chicago over his career where he studied the causes and effects of crime and punishment,
especially as it related to youthful offenders and delinquents.

- He advocated the DOT- Differential Opportunity Theory. This theory explained that society leads the
power class to want things and society does things to people.

- Ohlin claimed that there is differential opportunity or access to success goals by both legitimate and
illegitimate means depending on the specific location of the individual with in the social structure.

DIFFERENTIAL OPPORTUNITY THEORY (DOT)

 DOT was developed by Richard Cloward & Lloyd Ohlin in (1960's)

 Differential opportunity theorists, Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, determined that there were three
paths individuals faced with limited opportunities would use to achieve success. The three subcultures are
based on the stability of the environment.
 Differential opportunity theory was used to explain the emergence of three different delinquent
subcultures: the criminal, the conflict, and the retreatist subcultures. Over the years since its inception,
differential opportunity theory has received mixed empirical support.
 Differential opportunity theory was one of the first to integrate the ideas from two distinct theories. The
motivation for deviance strain theory was combined with the theories about means to learn criminal
behavior.
THREE SUBCULTURES

1. Crime – The conflict subculture is the type of criminality that resorts to violent behavior. It includes street
gangs and members of motorcycle clubs or other violent organizations.

2. Conflict – the most common and includes people who commit crimes for economic gain. A person belonging
to this subculture is usually labeled as delinquent because they’re connected with people who’ve committed
crimes in the past.

3. Retreatist – a subculture in which individuals withdraw from society and become alcoholics or drug addicts.

5. Robert Agnew - Robert Agnew is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Sociology at Emory University
and a former president of the American Society of Criminology. He was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on
December 1, 1953. He graduated with a B.A. He received his M.A. with his highest honors and distinctions
from Rutgers University in 1975, and Ph.

ROBERT AGNEW'S GENERAL STRAIN THEORY

 Agnew suggested that people under various strains experienced negative emotional states such anger,
depression, and fear. According to Agnew, crime happens when people turn to criminal ways of dealing
with their unpleasant emotions.
 The General Strain Theory provides a more in-depth understanding of the factors that contribute to stress
than Merton's explanations of the anomie theory.
 Agnew identifies three main reasons for strains that produce deviance:
 the failure to achieve a goal (e.g. good grades)
 the removal of positive impulses (e.g. death of a parent, end of relationship)
 the existence of harmful impulses (e.g. school problems)

 Agnew believes that "strain" is a phenomena that affects all racial and socioeconomic groups equally.
He makes an attempt to explain how "strain" leads in criminal activity. He begins by assuming that stress
leads negative emotional states like anger (violent behavior) or depression (drug use), which are
conducive to different delinquent behaviors in the lack of appropriate coping skills.
 The general strain theory (GST) provides a unique justification for criminal behavior. GST is the only
major theory of crime and delinquency that emphasize the role of negative emotions in the etiology of
offending, in contrast to control and learning theories, which both explicitly focus on negative treatment
by others.
6. Frank Tannenbaum, Edwin Lemert, and Howard Becker - hey are the advocates of the Labeling Theory
the theory that explains about social reaction to behavior. The theory maintains that the original cause of crime
cannot be known, no behavior is intrinsically criminal, behavior becomes criminal if it is labeled as such.

Frank Tannenbaum

 He was a historian, sociologist, and criminologist, who made significant contributions to modern Mexican
history during his career at Columbia University
 According to Tennenbaum, the labeling process begins when a conflict occurs between a group and the
community which results in a maladjusted act being defined as evil or criminal. To illustrate this stage of
the process, he provides an example of a group of young males playing ball too loudly outside of a movie
theater.

Edwin Lemert

 He was a sociology professor at the University of California. Lemert was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He
acquired his bachelor's degree in sociology from Miami University and his doctorate from Ohio State
University. He distinctly specialized in sociology and anthropology.
 In Lemert's view, the internalization of the label leads to deviance amplification. This causes a rejection
of the larger society and an association with other "deviants" - for whom the deviant behavior is not seen as
problematic.

Howard Becker

 Howard S. Becker is an American sociologist who teaches at Northwestern University. Becker has made
contributions to the sociology of deviance, sociology of Art, and sociology of Music. Becker also wrote
extensively on sociological writing styles and methodologies
 Becker's labeling theory is that, once individuals have been labeled as deviant, they face new problems
stemming from their reactions to themselves and others to the stereotypes of someone with the deviant label.

How does their theory work?

The Labeling Theory suggests or obtains labels from how others view their tendencies or behaviors. Each
individual is aware of how they are judged by others because he or she has attempted many different roles and
functions in social interactions and has been able to gauge the reactions of those present.
EXAMPLE

An example of labeling theory could be saying that a young man across the street is a thief because he was seen
in the company of other young men with deviant behavior. Even though he may not be a thief, it might cause
him to steal due to the label given to him