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Stress and coping strategies theory
Stress and coping strategies theory
Stress and coping strategies theory
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Applying the Goal to Merton’s Strain Theory
To own a home is always the desire of many people, especially migrants. But, it is easy to buy a house because it is so expensive. People have to earn a lot of money from their daily lives to buy it so that they also face to financial problems and psychological elements to get achieve their goals. In sociology, strain theory states that when individuals get their goals, they have to be under pressure of society. In addition, when they can not afford to achieve their goals and withstood the pressure at the same time, it leads to crime easily. According to “Strain Theory: How Social Values Produce Deviance” , Merton’ s strain theory has five types of deviance which are conformity, innovation,
For example, according to “2016 Election Analysis: Donald Trump Wins The Presidency”, Donald Trump is the 45th president of America with 277 points; he defeats his talented competitor who is a woman, Hillary Clinton. It shows that a lot of people bases on his property and power to support him. To explain for wage disparity between men and women is men’s symbol which presents for power. So, a lot of people have subjective thoughts which are, the men are more powerful than women. In addition, a lot of advertisements use men images which advertise for power and politeness with long-sleeved white shirts, ties, and vest. These images are very popular in daily life which also affects a certain part of sociological perspectives. So, it is the reason why men earn more money than women do for performing the same job with the same level of education and
Additionally, people contribute and support each other which develop the society. For example, adults work and pay tax for the government every year. The government uses the tax to support children who are studying in school, college, and university. Then, when the children grew up, they can earn money from their work; they also pay tax to support the adults when they retire. On the other hand, the wage disparity between men and women depends on positive viewpoint on men which is men’ strength. People think that the men are stronger than the women so that they can work and complete their position which is better than the women. Moreover, they can use their strength to support their co-worker. Thus, it is the reason why men earn more money than women do for performing the same job with the same level of education and
Merton recognised that individuals receive messages from society, which set acceptable behaviours to follow. He noted that a majority of citizens abide the acceptable behaviours, though there are numerous pressures that associate with the American Dream and the importance of the economy, which leads individuals to participate in deviant behaviours. Merton associated criminality and deviance with the American Dream goals, and how people attempt to achieve them, particularly the wealth component (Murphy & Robertson, 2008). Merton argued in 1938 that within unbalanced societies, the discrepancy between success goals and the endorsement of the means to achieve the goals, combined with limited opportunities manufactured the state of anomie. Further, Merton suggested that the anomic conditions in society were likely to tempt strain upon individuals, forming criminal behaviour adaptations. Particularly, the strain theory emphasised that those with high monetary aspirations are likely to innovate, resorting to unlawful activities, with the desire to channel success (Antonaccio, Gostjev & Smith, 2014). The strain theory connects to social causes, linking criminality with selfishness and egoism as the desire to
The strain theory as defined by Frank Schmalleger (2017) is “a sociological approach that posits a disjuncture between socially and sub-culturally sanctioned means and goals as the cause of criminal behavior” (p. 164). That is to say that there is a relationship between the legitimate goals, which every human desires (e.g. wealth, happiness, status) and the socially accepted means to achieve such goals (e.g. education, work). The strain theory states that the legal and accepted means to reach these goals are often limited – therefore, crime occurs when as an alternative mean to reach some goal. Theorists of the strain theory would describe H. H. Holmes as an innovator. That is to say, he desired legitimate goals such as wealth, but it was combined with the lack of access to reach the means. In response, he participated in illegal activity – selling stole cadavers, swindling insurance companies, killing women for their money (Schmalleger, 2017, p.
Strain theory is no different. During the 1930s, Americans were facing some of the worst, if not the worst, economical times in American history. The collapse of the stock market in 1929 lead to an era we now call “the Great Depression”. During this time extreme poverty and unemployment increased drastically, along with suicide and crime rates, particularly murder rates (Siegel 2010, p. 44). Robert Merton’s influence for the development of strain theory came from his observation of how influential the economic institutions were in regards to all other social factors. He drew heavily from Emile Durkheim’s earlier concept of anomie, or normlessness, to develop his own theoretical structure (Merton 1938; Merton
Both theories by Merton and Agnew are similar because their focus is that social situations and conflicts an individual’s comes in contact within his/her life, may produce crime by emphasizing the a goal of success, much more than the means to achieve it. With Merton’s theory he adopted Durkheim’s concept of anomie to explain deviance. Merton’s theory combined both structural and cultural factors. Merton insists that society promotes goals for their citizens and norms for other’s behavior in attempting to reach these goals. In Merton’s theory people do crime when they are unable to reach or accomplish goals. Merton’s theory also explains how an individual’s social structure prevents an individual from becoming economically fortunate. His theory of modern anomie and strain express that individuals respond to strain in 5 individual ways. Those five ways are conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion. On the other hand Agnew general strain theory, feels strain comes from sources other than economic failure. Agnew general strain theory focuses on a few other types of strain and stress. Like the presentation of a negative stimuli, and the loss of a positive stimuli. Agnew feels that this sort of strain leads to a negative state of mind. The emotions like angry, frustration and fear, lead to crime and criminal behavior. One
Majority of the citizens in the United States have always strived to obtain, what is known as the American dream. That dream usually involves having a well-paid career, a family, and having a big house in a neighborhood free from crime. According, Robert Merton in his theory of Strain theory believes that these goals are instilled at an early age, which these goals are held to all of its members in society; however the means of obtaining these goals are not equally distributed out. The means being defined as education, the concepts of hard work are ways to achieve these goals. Merton’s strain theory is an explanation of criminal behavior, according to the textbook, Adler, Mueller and Laufer (2010) defined Strain theory as “that people are law-abiding citizen, but when under great pressure will resort to crime. Disparity between goals and means provide this pressure.”(p.106) Merton goes that in a class-orientated society, opportunities to get to the top are not equally distributed. There are two important elements that in any society. The (1) cultural aspirations, or goals that people believe are worth striving for, and (2) institutionalized means to accepted ways to attain the desire ends. Inequality between goals and means fosters frustrations, which leads to strain. (Alder, Mueller, and Laufer 2010).
... On the other hand, Strain theory explains deviance as the outcome of social strains due to the way the society is structured. The slight differences between theories are that labeling is placed on someone; it is something that is given, but strain is something you place on yourself due to the way many individuals cope with stress. . The White Family portrays corruption and poverty. They take part in shoot-outs, robberies, gas- huffing, drug dealing, pill popping and murders.
General Strain Theory was reinvented by Robert Agnew in 1992 and contributed a new perception to the present strain theory that was popularized a couple eras ago (Agnew, 1992). Classic strain theory is connected; first with Merton’s (1938), Cohen’s (1955) and Cloward and Ohlin’s (1960). Founded on Durkheim’s theory of anomie (1893), Merton industrialized his theory of deviancy inside a societal fundamental context. Merton’s interpretation on the topic is that goal-expectation inconsistencies, composed with social stratification generates strain between underprivileged societies in turn leading them to use any means necessary, such as criminal, in order to accomplish socially defined goals (Merton, 1938). Merton specified that deviance was a
... people commit crimes and are not limited to one aspect like the original theory. For example, Merton strain theory just looked one aspect of blocked opportunities to unable achieve economic success. Differential Opportunity theory helped explain the different illegitimate means that causes people to commit crimes for example poverty and high concentrations of youth living in slums (Murphy & Robinson, 2009). Agnew General Strain theory takes a micro approach into looking at the different types of strain that causes people to commit crimes (Lilly et al.2010). Even though these theories explain certain aspects of what causes crime, it does not explain the sole cause of why criminal behavior occurs or why one commits different crimes. However integrated theories are helpful to understand certain aspects of why people commit crimes and engage in deviant behavior.
In classic strain theory it is said that, Classic strain theory focuses on that type of strain involving the inability to achieve success or gain a middle class status. General Strain theory focuses on a broad range of strains, including the inability to achieve a variety of goals, the loss of valued possessions, and negative treatment by others. General Strain Theory has been applied to a range of topics, including the explanation of gender, race/ethnicity, age, community, and societal differences in crime
Further data shows that in Woman’s lifetime, she will earn 77% of what a man will earn. However, there are controllable factors, such as job position, race, job industry and other factors, which affect the Gender Pay Gap. For instance, the US Department of Labor found that when such factors were considered, the gap ...
Due to various countries initiatives to shrink the wage inequality between men and women wages in the work force, the gap has narrowed, respectively, which may have helped form such opinion. However, stating that the gender pay gap does not exist in today’s society, anywhere, is completely unlikely. Seeing that the gap has loosened its grasp in the working world, in other countries, the gap between pay has widened or remained stagnant. One cannot help but wonder why the gap remains consistent, even with such substantial progress made in countries where the gap has decreased. Reasons as to why gender wage gap exist so heavily, slightly differs from country to country, but the overall effect from the wage disparity is wholly evident.
Although women have progressed in their role in society, they are still placed below men. As a result, there is a distinctive wage gap between working men and women. As of in 2009, recently graduated college women were getting paid an average of eighty-two percent of what males were earning (Dugas). This shows how men are constantly ranked above women, but only in specific jobs. Women receive the same amount of money when working in the fields of "bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks" (Dugas). These jobs portray the roles of women, therefore, thinking women are only equipped for certain jobs. This degrades women by only thinking that women have the capacity to accomplish jobs resembling the role of women in the household. However, the reasons given for why women receive less money than men are "their college majors, occupation, and the number of hours they work" (Dugas). It is explainable if the reason for getting paid less is the occupation, but there is no explanation for when there is a man and woman working in the same field and the woman i...
To gain an accurate understanding of strain theories it is best to first examine their intellectual foundations. One of the most important influences on the development of strain theories was sociologist Emile Durkheim. A structural functionalist, Durkheim argued that deviance and crime were not only normal, but also served a function in society. Durkheim believed that crime served the purpose of displaying to members of society what behaviours and actions are considered unacceptable as determined by societal co...
Gender inequality is present in all aspects of human society, from culture, politics, and economic stand point to personal relationships. Gender inequality can be viewed as a major problem especially within the business world (Corporation, 2016). In the past, men are seen as leaders in all aspects. For example, men could work without any criticisms, they could participate in political issues and were given higher education. Women on the other hand, were given no political participation, criticized for working outside the household as they were responsible for chores such as takes care of their children, cooking or cleaning and given limited education compared to men. Although there are claims rights equality of women in 21st century and much has been written about it in the field of business (Player, 2013), but there is still a gap between male and female. This essay aims to explore the impact of gender inequality in business and will analyze the details in terms of the men are given high pay and specific jobs over women.
Gender/Power is another contribution to gender inequality. Gender is a form of social control. The sociological significance of gender is that it is a device by which society controls its members. Gender/Power opens and closes access to power property and even prestige. Gender is inseparable from power and is defined by access to power. The statements "be a lady," or "be a man" are all based on culturally conceived ideas about gender. The images attached to labels such as feminine and masculine, not only guide our behavior, but they also serve the basis of power