Robert Merton's Anomie And Strain Theories
Chapter 4 of Lilly, Cullen & Ball mainly focuses on Robert Merton and his theories of Anomie and Strain Theories. Merton wanted to theorize the root of social deviance. He did not reject the thoughts of the Chicago school theorists of Sutherland, Shaw and McKay, but however he did suggest that other factors were involved in such as conditions essential to society and not just in the slums, was the center point of the nation’s crime and deviance. He thought the “American Dream”, “a message sent to all citizens that they should strive for social ascent as manifested by economic well-being, was the crucial ingredient” (Ball, Culley, & Lilly, 2011, p. 62). Merton had his own views of the American dream, because he grew up in a city slum, unlike
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Most people desire a goal they cannot reach. There are people who have limited resources and need extraordinary talent just to measure up to those who are way ahead of them in the race to become successful, thus, it puts intense pressures on people and deviants occurs.
Merton’s theory of Typology of Adaptions to anomie, or strain theory, ascended previous from the sociological theory of anomie by Emile Durkheim. According to Merton, when a people want to achieve their goals some will do whatever it takes to even if they have to break the law to achieve it. This happens when there is an imbalance in the social order and crime and deviant behaviors fuels the fire causing a strain on these individuals because they cannot reach their goals. They can adapt to these strain conditions in five likely ways conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion.
Conformity is the most common answer to anomie. They accept that they can achieve both culture goals and society goals legitimately. They believe they can achieve success through educational and employment advances. Even though they want or desire success they choose to obey the rules anyway and blame themselves for not succeeded. A good example of a conformist is a banker who works nine to five and believes they will be able to advance in their careers by working persistently and going back to school to advance their way up in the
Most people desire a goal they cannot reach. There are people who have limited resources and need extraordinary talent just to measure up to those who are way ahead of them in the race to become successful, thus, it puts intense pressures on people and deviants occurs.
Merton’s theory of Typology of Adaptions to anomie, or strain theory, ascended previous from the sociological theory of anomie by Emile Durkheim. According to Merton, when a people want to achieve their goals some will do whatever it takes to even if they have to break the law to achieve it. This happens when there is an imbalance in the social order and crime and deviant behaviors fuels the fire causing a strain on these individuals because they cannot reach their goals. They can adapt to these strain conditions in five likely ways conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion.
Conformity is the most common answer to anomie. They accept that they can achieve both culture goals and society goals legitimately. They believe they can achieve success through educational and employment advances. Even though they want or desire success they choose to obey the rules anyway and blame themselves for not succeeded. A good example of a conformist is a banker who works nine to five and believes they will be able to advance in their careers by working persistently and going back to school to advance their way up in the