Sofia D. Avila

11/25/22

After listening to the “Ear hustle: Episode 2: Misguided loyalty” podcast, the theory that would apply to explain Tommy Shakur Ross’s involvement in gangs and crime would be Merton’s Strain theory. This theory explains how societal structures can pressure individuals into committing crimes, Merton proposed a typology of deviant behavior defined by culturally defined goals and the institutionalized means available to achieve these goals. There are 5 categories in total, and 4 remain within a system which are conformity, ritualism, innovation, and retreatism. The 5th category falls outside of the system which is rebellion, this is the category which Shakur falls under. Rebellion in Merton’s Strain theory is when an individual rejects culturally and society-defined goals and actively replaces them with unacceptable ones.

To start, as Shakur was explaining early childhood life, he had both parents growing up and was one of the middle children among 5 siblings. His mother was a nurse and his father was a Baptist minister, so he grew up going to church. His parents wanted him to become a minister to follow in his father’s footsteps, but he wanted to do other things which eventually led him to resent going to church. Here we can see that Shakur is being presented to institutionalize cultural goals placed by his parents to follow his dad’s footsteps in church. As he started to resent the church and misbehave, his father would discipline him which resulted in him to further resent church and authority. One day when Shakur was ordering food from a taco stand, he was approached by three gang members who attacked him and took his food. Shakur felt humiliated and powerless, this encounter was what drew his attention to gangs.

At the young age of 13, Shakur started becoming close with one particular person who was affiliated with a gang called Eight Tray. With more exposure to gang culture, Shakur became more and more interested in joining. Applying Merton’s Strain theory, Shakur was becoming more interested in the societal structure of “togetherness” and culture in gangs. He rejected acceptable cultural and societal defined goals placed by his parents and replaces them with the cultural and societal goals in gangs, which are seen as unacceptable to overall society. Shakur would be exposed to more delinquent activities when he joined Eight Tray such as selling drugs or driving lowriders, this exposure would result in Shakur engaging in school fights, stealing cars, and snatching purses. His established goal in Eight Tray was “ghetto fame” where he wanted to establish his position in Eight Tray by doing the same level of crimes or beyond. He earned his name “Joker” and wanted to represent them by protecting the name of Eight Tray and upholding his reputation as Joker. These were the true societal structure of gangs, the pressure would result in Shakur committing crimes in order to achieve his new goal of representing Eight Tray.

In the year 1992, at the age of 19, Shakur would shoot Standford Bursey who was a part of an enemy gang of Eight Tray. This encounter would forever change Shakur’s life as his mother and younger brother were shot and killed as a form of retaliation for killing Bursey. He would be arrested and convicted for the murder of Standford Bursey only 4 days after hearing the news of his mother and younger brother, he served 31 years in prison.

Merton’s Strain theory properly explains Shakur’s involvement in gangs and crime. In the beginning, Shakur was conflicted with his own personal goals matching up to the goals his parents wanted him to follow. Applying the rebellion category of this theory suggests how an individual will tend to rebel if they undergo stress caused by inconsistency between their culturally defined goals and accessibility to the means required in achieving those personal goals. Shakur did not have the accessibility to establish his own personal goal because his parents wanted him to follow a goal they already established for him. When he would misbehave, his father would discipline him as a means to straighten him out to follow the set path they had for him. This influenced his rebellious behavior as he would reject these culturally and society-defined goals and actively replaces them with unacceptable ones by joining a gang. The true societal structure of Eight Tray would put pressure on Shakur in order to represent and withhold his reputation by committing crimes.