Strain and Anomie Theories

Strain and anomie theories trace crime to pressure between goals and means. The classic strain tradition runs through Merton's anomie and the American dream, Cohen's status frustration and delinquent subcultures, and Cloward and Ohlin's differential opportunity. Agnew's general strain theory then names three categories of strain and gives a central role to negative emotions, with an emotional pathway of anger, frustration and depression, and examines how strains reduce social control, feed the social learning of crime and shape criminal propensity, and which coping resources and supports condition whether a person turns to crime.