Social Structure Theory – Strain Theory

     Strain theory in its simplest form explains crime in the context of a disparity between the goals and means in a society. This means that individuals intrinsically want to be successful in society, but they lack the opportunity to do so legally. Within strain theory, there are five modes of adaptation which explain how individuals react to their frustration: conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion. In the case of the girls in Set It Off, the goal that they were reaching for in some capacity was to have enough financial resources to achieve their other goals and get back at the system that wronged them. In Frankie’s case, she wanted to get revenge on the banking system and the investigators for firing her, while also making up for the loss of her job. For Stony, it started out to put her brother through college and give him a good life, but it eventually morphed into wanting to get out of the Projects and start a new life. TT’s goal was to get enough money to prove to Child Protection Services that she could raise her kid appropriately. Cleo had a past of delinquency and crime, but during this movie she was constantly reaching for more money to make the most fun out of the situation she had. As each of these girls accept society’s goals, they believe they must reject the legal means to obtain them as they do not feel it is possible. Instead, they rob banks to gain the money to secure their respective goals. This makes the girls “innovators” according to Merton’s modes of adaptation. 

     Additionally, the film relates to strain theory’s idea of institutional anomie where their environment, and society as a whole, valued economic success to the point where the girls believed they would not be able to achieve this without committing crime. Relative deprivation also plays a key role in the film because there are those more fortunate in the film that had legal means to achieve their goals, both financial and otherwise. This created frustration in the girls since they could not achieve the same things. A key example of this would be Stony’s mindset once she started dating Keith. Keith had more fortunate circumstances with fancy clothes and a bigger house. Stony becomes frustrated with her own situation when compared to Keith, and begins to dream about moving away to achieve this goal. Overall, these girls were increasingly frustrated with the lack of means for them to achieve their goals and be successful in life, contributing to their actions of robbing banks.

The four girls discuss how unfair it is that they are paid less than the factory workers. They jokingly say they should rob or blow up the bank that Frankie was fired from.

The girls are excited about the opportunities that they now have because of the money they stole from the bank.

Stony is on the way to one of Keith’s work parties, but she does not feel comfortable in fancy attire. He decides to buy her a more appropriate dress before the party.