Agnew Social Strain Theory

According to Siegel and Welsh, “Inhabitants of a disorganized inner-city area feel isolated, frustrated, ostracized from the economic mainstream, hopeless, and eventually angry. These are all signs of what sociologists call strain” (2014, p. 104). In order to relieve these strains, sociologists have developed theories to demonstrates how these feelings of strain produce criminal activity. According to Robert Agnew’s theory, there are numerous life experiences that produce strain. Elements of the general strain theory which produce strain according to Agnew include, the failure to achieve goals, removal of positively valued stimuli, and the presentation of negative stimuli(Siegel and Welsh, 2014). Strain caused by the failure for a juvenile …show more content…
In lower class areas, however, strain occurs because legitimate avenues for success are closed” (2014, p. 104). However, simply because feeling of strain are not typically found in middle and upper class communities does not merit the assertion that middle class youths are immune from being exposed to any of the elements of the general strain theory. For example, any youth, regardless of their socioeconomic status could perhaps have negative stimuli in their life, such as being abused. Middle class youths could also feel strain through comparing their grades to their peers and not measuring up to the same standards, thus feeling strained due to their inability to achieve positively valued goals. Lastly, as stated above, any youth could potentially feel strain from the removal of positively value stimuli, such as their parents getting divorced. Divorce rates are high among all socioeconomic statuses, therefore, I agree that delinquent children become delinquent for many of the same reasons regardless of their socioeconomic