How the Social Strain Theory Explains the Motive of the Boston Marathon Bombing - Coursework Example

HOW THE SOCIAL STRAIN THEORY EXPLAINS THE MOTIVE OF BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING HOW THE SOCIAL STRAIN THEORY EXPLAINS THE MOTIVE OFBOSTON MARATHON BOMBING Introduction The bombing of Boston took place on the 15th of April 2013 during the city’s annual marathon event resulting in the death of three people and injury to at least 264 people who were either participants or spectators who had come to watch the event live. The robust explosion was caused by two powerful bombs that blasted near the finish line at the time when about two-thirds of the participants had already crossed the finishing line. The incident turned the city into a place of screams and weeps from the cheerful mood that had engulfed the air a few minutes ago. There was a lot of panicking among the athletes as well as the spectators as each scampered for safety. The occurrence which caused security scare all over the world resulted into security measures being enhanced in other cities such as New York and Washington which have been targeted by terrorists in earlier occasions. While condemning the attack, the United States president Barrack Obama swore to bring the people responsible for the attack to justice thus rolling out the search led by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (F.B.I). On 18th of April, the F.B.I had managed to publish photographs as well as video surveillance of two key suspects of the bombings who were later revealed as brothers. The two were Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. These immediately spur a chain of criminal events in the city of Massachusset in which the two suspects were involved in a series of crimes which eventually led to the police killing of Tamerlan Tsarnaev while Dzhokhar Tsarnaev managed to escape from the scene. The suspect was later located by the Watertown residents while hiding in a boat near his home which was followed by his arrest. He was quickly rushed to a nearby hospital due to his declining health status and the interrogations began there in which he alleged that his fallen brother was the architect of the act. The man further told the interrogators that their action was motivated by their excessive Islamic beliefs as well as the war that was ongoing in Iraq and Afghanistan. He claimed that they were not working for any terrorist group such as Al-Qaeda but theirs was self motivation and that they had acquired the experience of making explosives from an online magazine that had been published by the Al-Qaeda members in Yemen. Mr. Dzhokhar was charged on account of using a weapon of mass destruction and other criminal activities in which he pleaded not guilty. The formal criminal charges were brought up against him on 22 April in a District Court in Massachusetts when he was still in hospital. The federal court is scheduled to try him in November 3, 2014. After the intense interrogation, the F.B.I concluded that the actions of Tsarnaev brothers were motivated by their deep Islamic beliefs and that their choice of the Boston Marathon was due to its high level of prestige and global interest. Further reports indicate that he had made inscriptions in the boat where he was hiding indicating that he was angered by the way the United States were treating the Islamic nations of Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan and the innocent victims at the Boston Marathon were collateral damage to the effects of the U.S treatment of the Islamic world. However some political as well as public opinion shapers have reasoned that the primary motive of the attack was sympathy directed towards the political dreams of the people in the Caucasus region together with the inability of the two brothers to be completely assimilated into the American society. The social strain theory The social strain theory was brought forward by Robert Merton in which defined that that individual societies are characterized by dominant set of values as well as objectives which are accompanied with the appropriate means of attaining them. It affirms that despite the desire to achieve the set objectives, not every member of the society will be in a position to achieve them. The structural strain theory is viewed as an extension of the functionalist view on deviance. It can be traced to the gap between the specific cultural goals and the various means of attaining. Thus the strain is developed by the various attempts towards the achievement of these goals. In the American society, the reigning targets as well as social values are usually highlighted success through individual effort. In this case, the level of success is determined by the material possessions, social status as well as individual expressions through talents (Siegel, 2013). The individual achievements are evident by their jobs, income levels, form of dressing, and place of residence as well as other consumer goods that they are able to accumulate. The outlined means of achieved the goals as set by the society include self-control, self-determination as well as level of education. The American work ethics affirms that success only guaranteed to those work hard and for a long period of time. However, very few are able to attain their desired objectives as evident by the very few are able to attain their desired objectives as evident by the high levels of unemployment, poor living conditions, racial discrimination and social class struggles. As a result the theory alludes that people will always strain in order to fill that social gap through different divergent means such as innovation, retreatism as well as rebellion to the authority. The aspect of rebellion is manifested when people reject the goals set by the society as well as the means of attaining them. They aim at creating a new society that is characterized by different values that may not be popular with those of the society. On the other hand, retreatism is marked by the entire rejection of the goals together with their means of attaining them. Retreat may also be evident through drug abuse, alcoholism as well as vagrancy. The process helps in providing explanation why the youth are involved in criminal activities. Studies about criminal activities and drug abuse have established mixed patterns in which some people begin their criminal acts before they venture in criminal activities while others prefer to get involved in drugs before they further venture in criminal activities (Kinnear, 2009). Crime has been identified as one of the forms of innovation in which people try to become successful by adopting illegitimate methods of achieving them. The theory clearly demonstrates that the high levels of inequality that is witnessed among the minorities coupled with discrimination based on race and ethnicity is an indication that minorities are less likely to be able to attain their social goals by conventional channels. The following subheadings provide in-depth analysis of the social strain theory. (i) Culturally Accepted Goals Vs Culturally Approved Means Each society is characterized by various cultural structures which create goals to be achieved and social structures that offer the means by which the individual goals can be attained. Merton argues that in a clearly structured society, people will adopt and use the accepted forms of achieving their goals as they have been set prior by the society without having to adopt their own strategies thus creating a balance between the goals and the means of attaining them. Deviance is likely to take place when the two are not in a proper balancing position resulting in individuals acquiring deviant behaviors. The economic achievements that have been witnessed in the United States are an indication of structure strain theory in place. Everyone in the U.S is striving to become successful thus they follow legitimate means of ensuring their economic success through education which further enables them to secure better jobs. The fact that people do not have equal access to the means of attaining the means of success leads to a lot of strain which produces deviance in the short-run. The people who belong to the lower class economically are more likely to undergo a lot of strain in their quest to gain success despite their limited chances of achieving their goals. Such individuals are more likely to engage in criminal activities as they deviate from the expected means of attaining their goals. A high correlation is said to reign between the rate of unemployment and crime rates. (ii) Five Categories of People in connection to the strain theory According to Merton, people can be divided into five main categories in relation to how they relate to the culturally accepted goals and the means of attaining them. The first group is the conformists who are characterized by their belief in both the goals that have been set by the society and the normative ways of attaining them. They tend to follow every rule that has been outlined by the society. An example is a highly ranked civil servant who has acquired the position through his hard work. The second category of people is the ritualists whose belief is based on the non belief on the set cultural goals but they will tend to follow the set means of attaining them. The third group is the innovators who are described by the acceptance of the cultural goals of the society but in the process they end up rejecting the methods of attaining them as set by the society. They generally have blatant disregard for the various methods of wealth creation and as a result they end up becoming criminals. The fourth group is the rebels who reject both the goals and the means of attaining them and in the process they end up creating their new goals and the means of attaining them which are very contrary to those that have been laid down by the society. The retreatists are known to be those individuals who are in apposition to reject both the set goals and the means of attaining them without having to replace them with their own goals and aspirations as well as the means of attaining them. Such include several alcoholics, homeless people and the hermits. It is therefore a matter of great importance if one is able to clearly connect a given response by the exact group where such a person is likely to belong (Cordella, 1996). Literature Review According to Agnew, deviance is considered to be a function of the society as opposed to a common belief that they are generally harmful to the society. He argued that Merton’s theory had shortfall in the means of attaining the set goals and objectives of the society. The society can set goals but it does not have to outline the specific means of attaining them hence people must strive on their own in order to achieve their goals and become successful in their lives. He further advocated for a clear distinction to be made between cultural goals, institutional means as well as the norms since people normally perceive the norms subjectively, proceeding to interpret them and acting on them in various divergent ways. An individual may internalize a given norm in a specific way due to their personal life experience, educational experiences, and attitudes to life and personal values while some people may adopt different experiences and may legitimately internalize the same norm differently. However, it is worth noting that both may be acting rationally in their own terms, but the resulting behaviour is different (Agnew, 2006). Samaha, asserted that the strain theory is key in explaining crime as well as deviance but it needed some correction in order to accurately link it to cultural variables as well as social class. He further proposed a general strain theory that is neither structural nor interpersonal but instead advocate for a rather individual and emotional approach. He argued that an individuals actual or anticipated failure to achieve positively valued goals, actual or anticipated removal of positively valued stimuli, and actual or anticipated presentation of negative stimuli all result in strain. He articulated that anger as well as frustration will confirm negative relationships that exist in the goals and the means of attaining them. The resulting behavior patterns will often be characterized by more than their share of unilateral action because an individual will have a natural desire to avoid unpleasant rejections, and these unilateral actions (especially when antisocial) will further contribute to an individuals alienation from society. If particular rejections are generalized into feelings that the environment is unsupportive, more strongly negative emotions may motivate the individual to engage in crime. This is most likely to be true for younger individuals and he suggested that research focus on the magnitude, duration, and clustering of such strain-related events to determine whether a person copes with strain in a criminal or conforming manner (Samaha, 2006). The strain theory of suicide according to Siegel argues that suicide is generally preceded by psychological strain which is created by two forms of stresses which push people into different directions. A strain can be termed as a consequence of four main conflicts which include discrepancy between goals and reality, differential values, relative deprivation and lack of coping skills in times of crisis. Psychological strains in the form of all the four sources have been tested and supported with a sample of suicide notes in the United States and in rural China through psychological autopsy studies. The strain theory of suicide forms a challenge to the psychiatric model popular among the suicidologists in the world (Siegel, 2012). Summary and conclusion The Boston marathon bombing is a clear demonstration of the strain theory as evident in the personal attributes of the key suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The suspect can be categorized under the second category of individuals commonly known as the innovators who are described by their inability to align themselves with the set goals and the means of attaining them. The innovators are focused towards attaining the desired goal of becoming successful in life but they adopt strategies that may not be acceptable in the face of the entire society. It usually manifests itself among the minority groups who feel left out in the general undertakings of the entire society. From the analysis during his interrogation, there was an element of a feeling of lack of belonging as the two brothers did not feel part of the American society. The fact that their actions were motivated by the ill-treatment of the Islamic world by America is just an indication of an inner feeling of inadequacy and failure to meet their desire. The innovators will always develop means by which they can create attention as well as making their presence to be felt by people across the globe. They may adopt strategies that are bound to cause harm to themselves as well as those around them. References Agnew, R. (2006). Pressured into crime: An overview of general strain theory. Los Angeles, Calif: Roxbury Pub. Cordella, P. (1996). Readings in contemporary criminological theory. Boston: Northeastern Univ. Press Kinnear, K. L. (2009). Gangs: A reference handbook. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO. Samaha, J. (2006). Criminal justice. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth. Siegel, L. J. (2012). Criminology. Belmont: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning. Siegel, L. J. (2013). Criminology: Theories, patterns, and typologies. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth. Read More