Social Structure and Strain Theories

Theories that trace offending to the position a person or neighborhood occupies within the wider social and economic structure, from Durkheim's Anomie Theory and Merton's Strain Theory through Agnew's General Strain Theory, Shaw and McKay's Social Disorganization Theory and Cohen's Subcultural Theory. Belongs here: any theory whose central claim is that blocked goals, economic strain or neighborhood disorganization produces the pressure or subculture that leads to crime. Does not belong here: theories that explain offending through an individual's bonds, associations or learned techniques rather than structural position, grouped under Social Process Theories, or theories that treat law and the criminal justice system itself as an instrument of class or power, grouped under Critical and Conflict Theories.