12. According to Merton, what would not be a socially approved means to achieving legitimate goals? Crime and deviance.…
Awkwardness, rudeness and moodiness are stereotypes which are used to represent teenagers. In his novel "Lockie Leonard the Human Torpedo”, Tim Winton explores the emotional development of teenagers. In the novel he represents teenagers as reckless. This is achieved through Lockie's inappropriate actions, rude behaviour and his bad language.…
Individuals lead to crime for slightly different reasons which relate to their unique genetic character, their corresponding mental ability, their socialization and life circumstances; it is the interplay of these and other variables, any one of which may be more determinative in a particular case that causes a particular individual to resort to crime. Consequently, crime, like poverty, doesn't lend itself very well to comprehensive solutions, unless these solutions simultaneously address all the dominant factors underlying its causation in the majority of cases. The “Urban Society-Gesellshaft Thesis” goes on to say that important normative constraint which served to deter criminal behavior in the past tend to be absent in modern urban societies. The dramatic increase in crime in the 19th and 20th centuries has been attributed to the absence of a sense of community in urban societies.…
Discussing the outcome of a Roundtable discussion of federalism in Australia, John Wanna reported that "...all three levels of government - Commonwealth, state/territory and local - tended to see federalism as a malaise, not as a source of effective government" (Wanna 2007: 276).…
Merton suggests that people are socialised into wanting particular things, such as nice houses or cars, etc. However, the majority of people lack the means to achieve these goals. According to Merton, it is this that causes a strain in the structure of society - there is a conflict between what people have been socialised to expect and what they can realistically achieve through legal means. Merton argues that this is what leads people to crime and deviance, when trying to find an alternative route to gaining what they want, not through cultural transmission.…
According to the text Social Deviance, the sociologist Merton believed that poverty was a breeding ground for criminal behavior and social deviations. His theory is based on the fact that in Western civilization failure is regularly demonized and is viewed as a huge handicap for that particular individual. Looking at old shows and movies give us insight about reactions to certain social and mental differences in the past and what lead them to label individuals as deviants. Society has been known to develop and emanate new and varying norms as the years go by and…
However, Merton’s strain theory can be criticised because it focuses on individual responses to limited access to opportunity structures or access to illegitimate opportunity structures and doesn’t recognise that there is a social pattern of crime and deviance affecting whole groups of people, linked to social class, age, gender, ethnicity and locality, and not all of these people are subjected to the same opportunity structures.…
Crime occurs when society does not provide its members with equal opportunities in society. The individuals are not given equal opportunity in society will not have the same investment in their community as members of society that are afforded job and educational opportunities. When social functions are not equal the members of society are not recognized by society, he or she will develop their own unique subculture is more accepting of crime (Rock, 2012). This type of subculture appears in lower income and poverty…
However, Merton another functionalist argued that many types of crime exist because society as a whole shares the same ‘American dream’ (i.e. to become rich and successful), but not everyone can achieve these things lawfully, so a strain exists between the goals and ambitions of people and their ability to achieve them. The problem with Merton’s strain theory is that there are many people in society who have not achieved the so called ‘American dream’ but haven’t turned to crime, so it can be argued that crime is committed collectively and maybe because of a lack of socialisation and upbringing.…
One explanation of crime and deviance from the functionalist perspective was Merton’s strain theory. He said crime is a response to failing to achieve society’s cultural goals. According to Merton’s explanation, all society set their members certain goals and provides socially approved ways of achieving these goals. When majority of the population were unable to achieve the socially set goals by the socially approved ways, they became disenchanted with society and find alternative ways of behaving. Additionally, Merton described 5 forms of behavior which is a response to failing to achieve society’s goals. Conformity and innovation are both accept the goals of society. Conformity also accepts the means of society and is non-deviant and non-criminal conformist citizen, while innovation means that the person will achieve those goals by using different ways (including deviance and crime). Ritualism and retreatism both reject their goals. Retreatism also rejects their means, depending upon drugs and alcohol and drugs. Ritualism accepts their means but has a negative attitude toward life. They may also rebel against society, and engage in protest and revolution to try and change society.…
Social structure theories view societal, financial, and social arrangements or structures as the primary cause of deviant and criminal behaviors (University of Phoenix, 2013). In other words, the primary cause of crime or deviant behavior can be traced to the less fortunate, or lower class of people. Social structure theories indicate that neighborhoods of lower class individuals suffer from immense strain, stress, frustration, and a kind of disorganized chaos that creates crime (Inchaustegui, n.d.). While this theory definitely has some truths regarding resources and some people’s experiences, certain strains…
The aim of this essay is to compare, contrast and evaluate two sociological theories of crime causation and two psychological theories of crime causation.…
1. What social policies would be likely to be recommended by a sociologist who favored Merton’s Strain theory in order to reduce property crime by the poor?…
The Social Strain Theory explains the causes of disparity among minorities that leads to higher rates of arrests and incarceration rates. “Robert Merton’s social stain theory holds that each society has a dominant set of values and goals along with acceptable means of achieving them” (Walker et al, pg 92). If success in life is measured by your social status, involving what you own, where you live and who you know then that is your personal goals for success. The ways to achieve this success are seen as hard work, education, self-control and as individual achievements (Walker et al, pg 92). If the American dream is not realized by a group of people because of societies inability to provide equal levels of educational and work opportunities to achieve success it results in what Merton’s calls social strain. Merton’s theory of social strain addresses the gap between what society views as success and a persons circumstances are for trying to achieve that success. (Walker et al, pg 92). Social strain helps to explain high rates of criminal activity among minorities because minorities are more likely to be denied legal opportunities to obtain the American dream by legal means. “The high levels of economic inequality experienced by minorities, together with continuing discrimination based on race and ethnicity, mean that minorities are far less likely to be able to achieve approved social goals through conventional means” (Walker et al, pg…
Many people who are apart of the lower class want the American dream ,but due to their social status it makes it harder to achieve the “American Dream”. People may commit a crime due to wanting to find a way out of their present situation. Such as homelessness, poor education, bad housing, and lack of political power. The Social Structure Theory relates to Jack’s scenario because Jack is apart of the lower class. Therefore, Jack’s living situation and economic status caused him to pull the gun out on Mary ,and that is why he stole her money and ran…