Social Control and deviance

Robert Agnew said `when people get mad , they get bad (Strain Theories in Crime . 2006 ) Agnew 's strain theory ties in , on a limited basis , to J .D . Salinger 's Holden Caulfield , the main character in Salinger 's The Catcher in The Rye . The teen aged Caulfield does get angry quite often but his social deviance is not so easily accounted for . Merton 's strain theory knits together a more comprehensive explanation for Caulfield 's ambitionless existence and his social deviance

Certainly there is some merit to Agnew 's three tier theory . His

br `deviance producing strain ' consists of three main types . The first of these three types is Failure to Achieve Positively Valued Goals . This head is divided by Agnew into three more sub groups which are

The person 's actual achievements in comparison to his expectations . This concept is married to what an individual perceives as a fair outcome and the actual consequences . For whatever reason , the individual becomes frustrated or angry that he will never achieve his goals

The person experiences elevated levels of disappointments

The individual decides to stop aspiring for goals that he finds unachievable (Strain Theories in Crime 2006

Holden Caulfield , at the age of 16 has flunked out of school at least four times . In an interesting conversation with one of his teachers at his last school Caulfield has become nonchalant . Mr . Spencer , the teacher that Caulfield is having a conversation with asks the boy if he has any concerns about the direction of his future . Caulfield 's response is cool and uncaring . `Oh , I feel some concern for my future all right . Sure . Sure I do .But not too much . I guess . Not too much . I guess (Salinger 1979

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Earlier in the conversation Mr . Spencer confronted Caulfield about his previous failures in schools . Caulfield quite bluntly responded that he hadn 't failed out of one of the schools . In fact he said , `I didn 't have too much difficulty at Elkton Hills .I didn 't exactly flunk our or anything . I just quit , sort of (Salinger 1979 p18 ) Caulfield obviously fits very nicely into Agnew 's first main category of his strain theory . He has serious difficulties achieving positively valued goals , for instance , an education

Agnew 's `Removal of Positively Valued Stimuli ' is the second category of his deviance-producing strain theory . According to Agnew this happens primarily during adolescence (Strain Theories in Crime 2006 ) As The Catcher in The Rye begins we are poignantly aware of the fact that Holden Caulfield is an adolescent . His removal from positively valued stimuli is manifested early in his narration . `I was trying to feel some kind of a good-bye . I mean I was I 've left schools and places I didn 't even know I was leaving . I hate that (Salinger . 1979

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Agnew 's `removal of positively valued stimuli ' includes the stress associated with moving or when a death or illness is visited upon close family members of friends . We get the...