Essay on Gangs and Strain Theory
Strain
theory Explaining the Existence of Gangs
Overview
One of the most pressing problems of
the United States regarding the problem on crime and youth involvement is the
wide proliferation of gangs. The perpetuation of gangs in our society can be
associated with the increase of other social problems such as violence and
crimes. The term gang itself has a lot of negative connotations. It can be
defined as a group of individuals having that collective negative traits and
behaviors. They are also seen as deviants and those who perpetuates crimes A
lot of the most serious crimes in the records of the authorities all over the
United States are connected to gangs. Many gang members are involved in the
most serious criminal activities including shooting, extortion,prostitution,
smuggling, robbing, rape assault and weapon trafficking. Because of the
increase in the violence and crimes that gangs perpetuate, many social
researchers started to explain the existence of gang phenomena.
One of the social theories that
could explain the existence of gangs, gang membership and gang behaviors is the
Strain theory. The basic premise of the Strain theory is that the society sets
universal goals for the whole population and then offers only the ability to
reach these goals among few individuals. There are a lack of resources which
lead to a disproportionate allocation of wealth among the economic classes.
Those who belong in the lower classes then would feel a certain strain or
failure in achieving these positively valued goals. They would feel frustration
as they felt that they have no way of achieving all these goals. As applied to
gang membership, strain theorists see the gang members as those who lack
economic opportunities. These members have felt that the only way they can
attain all their goals and desires is to join a group or a gang which can
provide for them. For example, a gang member sees the gang which is involved in
drug trafficking, selling illegal weapons and engage in prostitution as a
source of money. If he joins then he knows he can also benefit from all the
money that the gang generates. The strain theory also assumes that there is a common
economic goal among the members of the gang. They all desire to live a
comfortable and wealthy life. They feel that they could not be able to attain
these because of their lack or resources. They then join gangs and engage in
illegal activities in order to fulfill all these desires.
Argument
I think Strain theory as a theory of
gang membership and the criminal behaviors of gangs is not an enough
explanation.. It only focuses on the desire of people to have wealth and
achieve the goals of the society and disregard the other motives for joining
gangs or for engaging in criminal behavior. It just focuses on the
materialistic nature of man and it cannot explain other crimes that leans on
different motives thus it cannot explain hate-crime, vandalism etc. It also
mainly focuses on the lower classes and thus cannot explain the membership of
those well off people in joining gangs. It cannot explain why rich and wealthy
people form gangs and commit the same crimes. It thus offers a very limited
view and perspective on gang membership and the behavior of the gang members
towards crime.
Conclusion
In general, strain theory explains
the existence of gangs and their behaviors towards crime as a result of the frustration felt by the lower
classes due to their failure to meet society’s goal due to their lack of resources.
Though it quite provide one of the plausible reasons for gang formation and
gang behaviors, its explanations are very limited.
Sources:
Alleyne E. & Wood, J. (2010). Street gang theory and research: Where are
we now and where do we go from here?. United Kingdom: University of Kent
Goldstein, A.P. (1991). Delinquent gangs: A psychological perspective. Champaign, IL:
Research Press.
Jankowski, M. (1991). Gangs and Social Change. Berkeley, CA: Sage
Publications.
Klemp-North, M.MS (2007) . Theoretical Foundation for Gang Membership. Theoretical Foundation
for Gang Membership, 14(4), 11—26.
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