merton's strain theory

• Merton's anomie combines two elements:

  • Structural factors
  • Cultural factors
• Structural factors are society's unequal opportunity structure and why people cannot get the same goals
• Cultural factors are the emphasis on success goals and using legitimate means to achieve them
• Merton argued that the cultural system was set on the American Dream which was a set of meritocratic principles, this assured the public of the equality of opportunity which was accessible to all regardless of their background
• The American Dream encouraged individuals to pursue a goal of success measured in terms of wealth and material possessions.
• American Dream =

  • People were then expected to pursue the goal through legitimate means and the dominant message was that working hard will reward you with success.
  • Merton argued these goals were not attainable by all and they were not fairly distributed as some could not access financial success
• Cultural goals are the goals and success that society tell us we should achieve.
• Institutionalized means are how you are expected to get these goals and success.
• Merton believed that a consensus existed about what peoples aims in life should be and how they should aim to achieve this. These are cultural goals and institutionalized means.
• Merton suggested that there was an unequal access to the goals and means, he refers to this as the strain in society and this causes criminal behavior.
• Legitimate means in society are the accepted norms and values of achieving success through hard work of education and following the laws.
• Illegitimate means are the way of achieving success through ways that are not considered socially acceptable.
• Merton argued that this strain led to a state of anomie, this undermined their commitment to the value consensus and they may respond by adopting 5 types of behavior.
• Merton's 5 types of behavior is:

  • Conformity
  • Innovation
  • Ritualism
  • Retreatism
  • Rebellion
• Conformity =

  • Pursuing cultural goals through socially approved means.
  • Follows the belief that they will eventually achieve their cultural goals
• Innovation =

  • Using socially unapproved means to obtain culturally accepted goals
• Ritualism =

  • Using the same socially approved means to achieve less goals ( less ambition )
• Retreatism =

  • To reject both cultural goals and the means to obtain it, they do not set new goals
  • Often find a way to escape it on the margins of society
• Rebellion =

  • Reject the cultural goals and means, they then work harder to create new ones for themselves
• Merton's strain theory explains why there is a higher rate of crime among working class

  • Noted there is a higher amount of crime committed by unskilled manual backgrounds, looking at official statistics
• Merton noticed that the American society promoted material success as a legitimate goal and encouraged hard work and self discipline to pursue this goal
• Merton argued the dream had become an ideology which ignores the fact that legitimate means are not available to all and those who failed achieving success were condemned for their lack of effort.
• People then turn to illegitimate means to avoid being labelled as a failure, he then argued that they could only meet these goals of success through crime.
• Merton argues the combination of pressure of achieving material goals and the lack of legitimate opportunities means they are forced into crime.
• Evaluation of the strain theory =

  • Too deterministic, states that the crime was inevitable due to external factors
  • Fails to explain white collar and corporate crimes who likely have access to socially approved goals
  • Assumption that everyone follows the value consensus and agree with these goals
• Evaluation of the strain theory =

  • Focuses only on utilitarian crime and financial benefit in crime
  • Does not state how or why they choose which response to the strain
• Research support for the strain theory =

  • Summer (2004) and Young (2007) claim to have found that it is the capitalist cultural emphasis on material success
  • Savelsburg (1995) used the strain theory to explain the increase of crime rates in Russia when they embraced capitalist practices