General Strain Theory (GST)
Definition
Robert Agnew's 1992 reformulation of strain theory. GST identifies three sources of strain: failure to achieve positively valued goals, removal of positively valued stimuli, and exposure to negatively valued stimuli. Negative emotions, especially anger, are the mediating mechanism between strain and crime.
- Author
- Robert Agnew
- Published
- 1992
- Sources of strain
- 3: failed goals, lost stimuli, negative stimuli
- Mediating mechanism
- Negative emotion, especially anger
Common questions
How does GST differ from classic Mertonian strain theory?+
Merton's version focused narrowly on the gap between culturally valued goals and legitimate means of achieving them, while Agnew's GST widened strain to include loss of valued things and exposure to negative treatment, not only goal-blockage.
Why doesn't everyone under strain turn to crime under GST?+
Agnew argued that coping resources, social support, and traits like temperament and self-control determine whether a strained individual resorts to criminal coping rather than a legal alternative.
What kind of strain is considered most likely to lead to crime under GST?+
Strain seen as unjust, high in magnitude, linked to low social control, and creating pressure toward illegitimate coping is considered the most criminogenic.
Related terms
- Anomie
- A condition in which social norms weaken or become contradictory, leaving individuals without clear moral guidance. First used by Durkheim to describe...
- Innovation (Merton)
- One of Merton's five adaptations: accepting the culturally approved goal (financial success) while rejecting legitimate means and substituting illegitimate ones. Merton identified...
- Institutional Anomie Theory (IAT)
- Messner and Rosenfeld's macro-level extension of Merton (1994). IAT argues that societies in which the economy dominates all other institutions produce high...
- Retreatism
- One of Merton's five adaptations: rejecting both the culturally approved goal and the legitimate means, withdrawing from the competitive social order altogether....
- Strain
- In criminological theory, the pressure or frustration produced when individuals cannot achieve goals through legitimate means, or when they experience loss or...