General Strain Theory

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The General Strain Theory (German: general pressure theory ) is a criminal- sociological advancement of Robert K. Merton's anomie theory . The theory was conceived by Robert Agnew . It defines three types of social stress at the level of individual actors as promoting crime.

Three types of social stress

In contrast to Merton's classical anomie theory, Agnew sees three types of social strain ( strain ) for individual actors in addition to the social goal-means discrepancy : the perceived impossibility of achieving positive goals; experiencing withdrawal from positively rated stimuli ; exposure to negative stimuli . The resulting annoyance and disappointment favor the willingness to commit criminal acts.

Agnew specifies three forms of pressure that produce deviant behavior ( deviance-producing strain ):

  • Failure to achieve desired goals (such as worse results in training than desired)
  • The loss of positive impulses (such as the death of a parent or the end of a partnership)
  • The presence of harmful impulses (such as social problems in school or vocational training).

According to Agnew, such pressure can occur in all strata of the population and is not a class-specific phenomenon. In his opinion, such pressure states can trigger negative emotional states that promote anger and thus violent behavior or depression and thus self-medication through drug consumption. Agnew sees the reasons why some people only react to the stress with nonconforming and others with criminal behavior in different coping skills (such as intelligence, creativity, problem-solving skills). An environment close to crime could have a reinforcing effect.

Terrorism Analysis

With A general strain theory of terrorism , Agnew used his explanatory approach to the criminological analysis of terrorism in 2010 . As a result, acts of terrorism are most likely when people come under collective pressure that is particularly high (e.g. civilian deaths), felt to be particularly unjust and exercised by overpowering others. However, there is no automatism. The pressure can also be overcome with non-terrorist activities, if financial and political resources and social support are available.

Criminological evaluation

With his approach, Agnew breaks away from the other anomie theories, which are limited to lower-class crime. Crime preventive implications of the General Strain Theory are good social policy (improved accessibility of material goals), strengthening of the family and community (positive stimuli) and the learning of coping strategies within the framework of (re) socialization programs.

Karl-Ludwig Kunz and Tobias Singelnstein raise the objection that pressure ( stress ) is an unspecific phenomenon that can only be determined in a very general and subjective way, and that dealing with the situation depends on subjective abilities to do so. But since such aptitude is hardly ever checked before a criminal offense is committed, there is a risk, against the background of the General Strain Theory , of interpreting every crime retrospectively as being pressure-related. This would evaporate the concept into an unproductive blanket declaration of all criminal behavior.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stefanie Eifler : Kriminalsoziologie, Transcript-Verlag, Bielefeld 2002, ISBN 3-933127-62-9 , p. 29 f.
  2. ↑ The following presentation is based on Christian Wickert, unless otherwise stated: General Strain Theory (Agnew) , SozTheo
  3. ^ Frank Neubacher : Kriminologie, 3rd edition, Nomos-Verlag, Baden-Baden 2017 ISBN 978-3-8487-3036-0 , p. 105.
  4. ^ Karl-Ludwig Kunz and Tobias Singelnstein : Criminology: A foundation. 7th, fundamentally revised edition, Haupt, Bern 2016, ISBN 978-3-8252-4683-9 , p. 101.