ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on three related, but distinct theoretical perspectives in criminology: anomie, strain and subcultural theories. It presents a set of essays dealing with strain, subcultural and anomie theories. The book focuses on the development of the theory and the second on the major contemporary statement(s) of the theory. It describes the nature and sources of anomie suicide. The book also presents the first complete statement of general strain theory (GST). It drews on prior versions of strain theory and a range of other literatures to substantially expand the scope of strain theory. GST more fully describes the reasons why such strain may lead to crime. GST has stimulated much research on the links between strain and crime. Data suggest that the strains identified in the theory are associated with crime.
