Two people grow up in similar circumstance, live in the same town, work similar jobs, and have similar dreams; yet, one will continue to work hard and live a moral, socially acceptable life, and the other will turn to crime becoming a social deviant. Why? What factors cause one to become a deviant; and fail to have any effect on the other. These are age old questions that philosophers and scholars have tried to answer throughout recorded history. Often religion or lack of it has been believed to be the cause; fortunately, society has evolved to the point where we can use scientific principals and reason to explain most natural occurring phenomena. Furthermore, the Twentieth-Century witnessed incredible advancements in psychology, criminology
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Is it do to an increase of social strain, hopelessness about achieving the life each American is taught from a young age should be theirs simply because they live a good life and work hard, or is it a result of the war on drugs, or is there some other reason for the uptick in crime? Some criminologists posit that deviance is simply a choice whether it is made out of desperation or lack of moral values. While others point out that social inequality is a sole diviner of deviant behavior. However, both of these theories dovetail nicely with social strain theory. In primary and secondary schools, children are told not to buckle to peer pressure, to do what they know is right, even though their friends are trying to get them to deviate. At work, honesty and integrity are preached and are valued above productivity or ingenuity, yet rarely rewarded beyond a standard paycheck. A security guard is payed $10 per hour and given the job of watching, and protecting pallets of money often totaling millions of dollars, on its way to an incinerator. An accountant makes $35,000 per year, while trying to pay off student loans and support a young family. A high school graduate gets a job at a fast food restaurant trying to save money for college and winds of working side by side with a person who has a master’s degree in business. These allegorical depictions happen more often than most people would like to acknowledge. With the huge gap between minimum wage and the true cost of living in the United States it is easy to see how more and more people every day are affected by societal
Is it do to an increase of social strain, hopelessness about achieving the life each American is taught from a young age should be theirs simply because they live a good life and work hard, or is it a result of the war on drugs, or is there some other reason for the uptick in crime? Some criminologists posit that deviance is simply a choice whether it is made out of desperation or lack of moral values. While others point out that social inequality is a sole diviner of deviant behavior. However, both of these theories dovetail nicely with social strain theory. In primary and secondary schools, children are told not to buckle to peer pressure, to do what they know is right, even though their friends are trying to get them to deviate. At work, honesty and integrity are preached and are valued above productivity or ingenuity, yet rarely rewarded beyond a standard paycheck. A security guard is payed $10 per hour and given the job of watching, and protecting pallets of money often totaling millions of dollars, on its way to an incinerator. An accountant makes $35,000 per year, while trying to pay off student loans and support a young family. A high school graduate gets a job at a fast food restaurant trying to save money for college and winds of working side by side with a person who has a master’s degree in business. These allegorical depictions happen more often than most people would like to acknowledge. With the huge gap between minimum wage and the true cost of living in the United States it is easy to see how more and more people every day are affected by societal