Merton's Strain Theory
Section A
Briefly outline and highlight the contribution of Merton’s strain theory to criminology.
Robert K. Merton was an American sociologist that wrote in the 1930’s putting out his first major work in 1938 called Social Structure and Anomie. After publication, this piece was we worked and tweaked to counter criticisms. The importance of the time frame of which Merton initially began his work is significant, as during this time crime and the approach to crime was examined predominantly based on the individual and was explained from a psychological base. Merton on the other hand, applied sociology to crime. This is critical to understanding his strain theory, as his work is sociological in nature, following the core beliefs of structuralism and drawing from the previous works for functionalist such as Emile Durkheim. Merton used his predecessor’s term anomie – which in Durkheim’s work referred to suicide as a result of the breakdown of social norms – and applied it to crime. The anomie perspective on crime “highlights the ways in which the normal features of the social organization of American society ironically contribute to the high levels of crime and other forms of deviant behavior by producing anomie, a breakdown of culture” (Cullen and Wilcox, 2010). According to Merton, the American Dream effectively put strain on individuals to attain lofty goals without any emphasis on the legitimate means. Hence, strain theory.
Society has two main features, as outlined by structural functionalism, cultural structure – prescribed goals and legal attainment – and the social structure – patterned social relationships – which exist in differing levels of integration. Merton uses the term malintegration to describe the state of society. This refers to the intrinsic tensions between core features of the system. They can exist between main components of culture or between culture and the social structure. When “[t]he cultural emphasis on the pursuit of goals is out of
Briefly outline and highlight the contribution of Merton’s strain theory to criminology.
Robert K. Merton was an American sociologist that wrote in the 1930’s putting out his first major work in 1938 called Social Structure and Anomie. After publication, this piece was we worked and tweaked to counter criticisms. The importance of the time frame of which Merton initially began his work is significant, as during this time crime and the approach to crime was examined predominantly based on the individual and was explained from a psychological base. Merton on the other hand, applied sociology to crime. This is critical to understanding his strain theory, as his work is sociological in nature, following the core beliefs of structuralism and drawing from the previous works for functionalist such as Emile Durkheim. Merton used his predecessor’s term anomie – which in Durkheim’s work referred to suicide as a result of the breakdown of social norms – and applied it to crime. The anomie perspective on crime “highlights the ways in which the normal features of the social organization of American society ironically contribute to the high levels of crime and other forms of deviant behavior by producing anomie, a breakdown of culture” (Cullen and Wilcox, 2010). According to Merton, the American Dream effectively put strain on individuals to attain lofty goals without any emphasis on the legitimate means. Hence, strain theory.
Society has two main features, as outlined by structural functionalism, cultural structure – prescribed goals and legal attainment – and the social structure – patterned social relationships – which exist in differing levels of integration. Merton uses the term malintegration to describe the state of society. This refers to the intrinsic tensions between core features of the system. They can exist between main components of culture or between culture and the social structure. When “[t]he cultural emphasis on the pursuit of goals is out of
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