Case Story
Mike is a 20-year-old black male that grew up with a single parent in an impoverished community in Chicago. At the age of 16, he engages in primary deviance by stealing a product from a local convenience store. This is an isolated incident that does not get punished or labeled Mike as a criminal neither by his parents, peers or other individuals who may have found out about the incident. After doing it on a few more dares, however, Mike starts stealing from stores on a regular basis as means of obtaining the items he wants, is apprehended a few times by the local police force, and is branded as a juvenile delinquent with a record of shoplifting. This case is formulated around the labeling theory of primary and secondary deviances, with the latter declaring Mike a juvenile criminal, thus framing his identity as such and encouraging further crimes (Walters 38).
Explanation Using Conflict Theory
Conflict theory explains that crime occurs as a result of socio-economic factors, gender and race disparities, as well as power disparities between people. As Mike comes from an underprivileged background (one parent, a poor neighborhood, being black), he does not have an access to various goods that the privileged people could easily afford using pocket change (Walters 51). At the same time, the disparity of power between the rich and the poor causes his peers to view his defiance of the system as a badge of honor.
These factors combined together explain both the primary deviance (caused by a dare, to prove oneself) and the subsequent repeated performances, which were done less for approval and more so to obtain the goods Mike wanted. Thus, Mike is both at high risk of engaging in such behavior and at high risk of being convicted for it – conflict theory says that the poor are punished for crimes more harshly than the rich (Walters 53). This is confirmed by the follow-up of the story, where Mike receives a record for shoplifting, further inhibiting his chances of increasing his socio-economic standing through legal means.
Explanation Using Merton’s Strain Theory
Merton’s theory of strain focuses largely on societal pressures as a primary motivation for committing deviances. The theory states that individuals would seek to either conform, rebel, or something in between in regards to society’s norms and goals depending on how accessible they are (Walters 70). If a person is poor, they can attempt to either alleviate themselves through hard work (conformity), achieve wealth through crime and theft (survivalism), aim for more modest goals (passivism), retreat from the society (retreating), or seek to overthrow the status quo altogether (rebellion) (Walters 71). Based on this theory, the situation described means that Mike chose the survivalism mode of the pursuit of cultural goals, designing socially-unapproved means of reaching them.
This theory, though covering one aspect of criminal behavior, has several flaws. Namely, it does not explain crimes committed by individuals that are successful in society (Walters 80). Second, Merton ignores group behavior in crime motivation, which is why it was difficult to attach it to Mike’s case. Finally, the theory was developed in the 1940s, and as such does not reflect the realities of post-modernist society, namely by not paying enough attention to race or gender (Walters 81).
Reference
Walters, Glenn D. Modelling the Criminal Lifestyle: Theorizing at the Edge of Chaos. Springer, 2017.