In criminology, many theorists have put forward their own beliefs and ideas about the origin and causes of crime. Among the popular theories that have been suggested we can find lie strain theory, control theory and anomie. These three theories look at how an individual can be affected by society in such a way that it would cause them to turn to crime and, quite radically, each theory in some way shifts the blame for crime from the individual responsible to the organisation of society as a whole. Can the way a society functions naturally lead some individuals into criminal careers?
Strain theory suggests that since all societies have specific goals which individuals are expected to aim for, all societies will also have crime. This is because crime is a natural reaction when an individual is given a goal to aim for that they can see no hope of actually reaching. Particularly for those in great poverty, the aims of our capitalist society of wealth and power must seem unreachable. This then causes these individuals to turn to crime in order to reach these goals using criminal methods. This is a problem, particularly in cultures with a strong capitalist ideology such as the USA, where individuals are continually bombarded with ideas in the media of how money and power can make for a perfect life. This promotes the idea that individuals should always strive for more of these things and sometimes crime is the only way to reach them.
Control theory is seen as somewhat backwards to the rest of criminology, since rather than asking why some people do offend it asks why the majority of people do not commit crime. The methods by which individuals are restricted from taking part in criminal activity by society is known as social control and, by understanding this better, some theorists believe that we can stop more and more people from turning to lives of crime. Findings suggest that factors that keep people from turning to crime include the amount of good social relationships they have and in the case of young people, how engaged they are in their school work and school life. People that are high in these factors will probably like the society that they are in and so will not want to act against it through crime. As well as this, there is the idea that in committing crime they risk upsetting and being shamed in front of all these people that they are close to. Being focussed on other things, such as hobbies and schoolwork, will also not allow time for someone to learn and become associated with criminality. Therefore, one way to stop individuals from becoming criminal would be to make sure they have strong social connections and that they have other things to focus on, such as schoolwork and hobbies.
Anomie is a state that was described by Durkheim, often seen as the father of sociology. It is a state in which an individual is given very little guidance in what is acceptable and the right way to behave in society. Individuals may be in this because they have received a bad upbringing, where they were not taught how to behave correctly by their parents, or it could be that general social etiquette and the law does not provide a very good set of rules by which to live. An individual in this state may therefore be more likely to become criminal because they do not see what they are doing as unacceptable. An example of this is in large scale corporate crime, which is not very well explained in the law, and so since there are loopholes around it, people do not know feel that what they are doing is unacceptable, and so will likely just continue with it anyway.
When these three factors work together on an individual they are very likely to become criminal, thinking it is acceptable and the only way to reach society’s goals. The problem, however, is how can society change for the better?
Some strain is inevitable in all capitalist societies but we can promote other goals than just money and power, such as friendship and love, which might lead people to stop caring so much about reaching the others to the extent that they turn to crime. We can also try to promote social bonds for individuals who may turn to crime and we can try and make society’s rules clearer in order to make it known what is acceptable and what is not. To conclude, perhaps rather than shifting the blame and making out criminals to be evil, we must first look at society itself and how we can change for the better to reduce further crime.
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