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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the disorganization theory in Chapter 3, he knew that there were programs that good people could go to like libraries and church functions with possibilities of moving out of the slums one day.
The Structurally Induced Strain, Merton believes that ambition promotes deviant behavior.
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
company.
Innovation is the second likely reaction to anomie. These are people who want financial and material success but they tend to turn to crime to achieve it. An example of an Innovator is a drug dealer, who wants wealth and social status, but they try to achieve theses means through illegal activities.
Ritualism is another possible adaptation of Merton’s anomie theory. Ritualist lightens the strain of anomie by reducing goals for success of their own. They are content with the way life is going for them and do not wish to change it. Ritualists elude from taking risks, for the most part, and are happy within the boundaries of their daily routines. A telemarketer or government worker can demonstrate a ritualistic reaction. Knowing that wealth and stature are very unlikely they still keep their nose to the grind and maybe hope to become lead worker or a supervisor someday. While seemingly maintain conformity to social and culture standards and perceive not to break the law, ritualists do not presume to be a threat in society.
Retreatism is possibly the most disheartening of Merton’s adaptation anomie theory. Retreatlists are prone to have an intense response to the stress of anomie. Because expectations are so great to become successful by conventional and traditional ways they freak-out and evidentially give up. A student who drops out of school is an example of retreatists. A homeless person and of course, suicide, is the ultimate retreat!
The fifth and last adaptation to Merton’s anomie theory is rebellion. Rebels do not want to accept what is a legitimate system in society; in fact, they want to takeover it if they can. Rebels are more likely to advocate groups rather than individual success, and reject the idea of financial and material wealth as the ultimate goals, and want new means to be successful. Terrorist are examples of rebels.
Merton’s anomie theory, like all other theories must have empirical support of validity. Because Merton’s theory consist of; the American Dream, the intuitional balance of power, and the value of informal control exercised by common institutions are hard to measure at a macro level, especially in a single date set. However, because the concept of anomie theory is vague to measure then the results could be controversial at most. The research, with the help of Messner and Rosenfeld, of the American Dream etc. were response from a survey taken from across the nation. When compare to others in the world, Americans are more prone to say they value material wealth, competition, and private ownership over government control. Messner and Rosenfeld, conveyed that there were “mixed results” and that further research was needed.
When the denial of opportunities are the reasons there are criminals then that means there should be more programs that justifies the disadvantage like a pre K programs, on the job training, and educational resources for everybody who wants them. On the criminal justice side, the rehabilitation of prisoners should get an opportunity to get a higher education than the one they already have or some kind of technical training to use when they get out of prison.
In, Gabbidon, Greene & Young chapter 4, the late 1800’s and early nineteen hundreds was a time of excess crime in Chicago as well in the United States. The Negros during this time were in a moral and social stale mate, just like in Lilly, Cullen & Ball chapter 4, when I described ritualists (content with the way life is going for them and do not wish to change it) but it also showed that they did not stay content thus crime became to grow in excess. The authors suggest that this was also a time where the Negro was in a state of transition and their lives were imbalanced. 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. Then they have to start adapting and during this time most chose crime.
the disorganization theory in Chapter 3, he knew that there were programs that good people could go to like libraries and church functions with possibilities of moving out of the slums one day.
The Structurally Induced Strain, Merton believes that ambition promotes deviant behavior.
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
company.
Innovation is the second likely reaction to anomie. These are people who want financial and material success but they tend to turn to crime to achieve it. An example of an Innovator is a drug dealer, who wants wealth and social status, but they try to achieve theses means through illegal activities.
Ritualism is another possible adaptation of Merton’s anomie theory. Ritualist lightens the strain of anomie by reducing goals for success of their own. They are content with the way life is going for them and do not wish to change it. Ritualists elude from taking risks, for the most part, and are happy within the boundaries of their daily routines. A telemarketer or government worker can demonstrate a ritualistic reaction. Knowing that wealth and stature are very unlikely they still keep their nose to the grind and maybe hope to become lead worker or a supervisor someday. While seemingly maintain conformity to social and culture standards and perceive not to break the law, ritualists do not presume to be a threat in society.
Retreatism is possibly the most disheartening of Merton’s adaptation anomie theory. Retreatlists are prone to have an intense response to the stress of anomie. Because expectations are so great to become successful by conventional and traditional ways they freak-out and evidentially give up. A student who drops out of school is an example of retreatists. A homeless person and of course, suicide, is the ultimate retreat!
The fifth and last adaptation to Merton’s anomie theory is rebellion. Rebels do not want to accept what is a legitimate system in society; in fact, they want to takeover it if they can. Rebels are more likely to advocate groups rather than individual success, and reject the idea of financial and material wealth as the ultimate goals, and want new means to be successful. Terrorist are examples of rebels.
Merton’s anomie theory, like all other theories must have empirical support of validity. Because Merton’s theory consist of; the American Dream, the intuitional balance of power, and the value of informal control exercised by common institutions are hard to measure at a macro level, especially in a single date set. However, because the concept of anomie theory is vague to measure then the results could be controversial at most. The research, with the help of Messner and Rosenfeld, of the American Dream etc. were response from a survey taken from across the nation. When compare to others in the world, Americans are more prone to say they value material wealth, competition, and private ownership over government control. Messner and Rosenfeld, conveyed that there were “mixed results” and that further research was needed.
When the denial of opportunities are the reasons there are criminals then that means there should be more programs that justifies the disadvantage like a pre K programs, on the job training, and educational resources for everybody who wants them. On the criminal justice side, the rehabilitation of prisoners should get an opportunity to get a higher education than the one they already have or some kind of technical training to use when they get out of prison.
In, Gabbidon, Greene & Young chapter 4, the late 1800’s and early nineteen hundreds was a time of excess crime in Chicago as well in the United States. The Negros during this time were in a moral and social stale mate, just like in Lilly, Cullen & Ball chapter 4, when I described ritualists (content with the way life is going for them and do not wish to change it) but it also showed that they did not stay content thus crime became to grow in excess. The authors suggest that this was also a time where the Negro was in a state of transition and their lives were imbalanced. 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. Then they have to start adapting and during this time most chose crime.