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CRIM 102 Final Exam with complete solutions 2024_2025.
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CRIM 102 Final Exam with complete solutions 2024_2025.
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CRIM 102 Final Exam with completesolutions 2024/2025
The Legacy of Strain - ANSWER-- strain theories are among the older
criminological theories.
- Father of strain theory is Robert Merton
- Work in the 1930s based on Durkheim's Anomie
- Durkheim warned that modern society (industrialization) creates anomie - a
condition in which society provides little moral guidance to individuals
- "normlessness"
- Durkheim also argued that people thrive in societies where their desires and
wants are well regulated
- when there is a lack of regulation, anomie develops
- industrialization provided this lack of regulation because people were not
controlled by their church, friends, family, or neighborhood, but instead by their
job and specialty
Strain Theory Assumptions - ANSWER-- criminologists have always disagreed on
human nature
- deterrence and control theorists argue that humans are naturally inclined to
commit crime.
- **Strain theorists argue the opposite: that is to say that crime is not natural to
human beings.**
- **Rather something externally imposed on individuals pushes them to commit
crime**
-Ex: you want to abide by the law but you think its unfair that you can't drink until
you're 21 and believe you are an adult that can make your own decisions
Social Frustration - ANSWER-- while Durkheim only argued that anomie leads to
suicide, Merton added that anomie can cause social frustration that can lead to
crime
, - thus, strain theory did not begin as a psychological theory, **but instead
emphasized the lack of adequate social regulations like economic desires**
- Merton saw that culture failed to set limits, and the social structure failed to
assist people in achieving things that culture deemed important.
- this all revolves around one important concept: The American Dream
What is the American Dream? - ANSWER-- According to Merton, American culture
places an **excessive emphasis on material and monetary success and too little
emphasis on the "proper" way of achieving success**
- culture helps identify what is important and what gives value and worth. Merton
says, **America cares more about monetary worth than other aspects of an
individual's life**
- success is measures by material and monetary things
Merton argues two aspects of American culture that create strain and lead to
crime: - ANSWER-**1. the "goals" (or what we are socialized to want)**
**2. the "means" (or the rules we're expected to follow while trying to achieve the
goals)**
- the problem with these two things is that American society values the Goals
much more than the Means.
- nobody cares how you got rich, they only value the wealth, not the road it took
to get there.
How does culture create strain? - ANSWER-- American culture does not
encourage us to be criminal
- it encourages material goal attainment by appropriate means --> like work hard,
defer gratification, be honest, become educated, etc.
- but if goals are obtained without appropriate means, society still rewards those
who "won"
- Also, what if you followed the appropriate means but still did not obtain the
goals? --> you might feel lied to, or even feel entitled to the goals since you
followed the appropriate means. --> this leads to strain
The American Dream - ANSWER-- promises equal opportunity to all who work for
it
- the reality is, a capitalist economy must always have varying levels of wealth,
ownership, power, and capital.
- **in other words, American society offers the opportunity for success, but in
reality not all can have the same level of success**
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