merton

• Merton's views on crime and deviance

  Structural inequality in society combined with the promotion of the American dream of wealth and power led to a strain to achieve, causing deviation from societal norms and values
• Merton's five adaptations to strain


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


  Response of most Americans to strain, involving accepting the American dream and actively pursuing it through legitimate means like hard work, education, and social networking
• Innovation

  • Organized crime syndicates, white-collar criminals, corporate criminals
• Robert King Merton


  One of the most influential sociologists of the functionalist movement, known for his internal critique of functionalism and the concept of universal functionalism
• Strain to anomie

  Resulted from the structural inequality and the pressure to achieve the American dream without clear guidelines on how to do so, leading to criminal and deviant behaviors
• Merton categorized adaptations based on

  Acceptance or rejection of society's goals and the use of legitimate or illegitimate means to achieve those goals
• Ritualists are those who have rejected society's goals
• Innovation

  Adaptation to strain where individuals accept socially approved goals but choose illegitimate means, like white-collar criminals, to achieve the American dream due to blocked opportunities
• Ritualists


  • People who have accepted they are unlikely to achieve the American dream of wealth and power but conform to society's norms and values by adopting legitimate means of gaining wealth and power, working hard, and gaining qualifications
• Albert Cohen, another functionalist, looked at how structural inequalities and blocked opportunities can lead to the formation of delinquent subcultures
• Merton's theory offers a rational explanation of why people may commit crimes for financial gain, but it does not explain crimes of passion or violent acts against others
• Rebels


  • People who challenge socially approved goals, create alternative visions of society, reject legitimate means of achieving goals, and adopt alternative methods to achieve their own version of society, including political dissidents, activists, and protesters
• Criminals focused on utilitarian crimes

  • Crime syndicates
  • White-collar criminals
  • Corporate criminals
• Merton's strain theory recognizes the role of structural inequality in crime and highlights how the lack of opportunities can impact different social groups
• Retreatists

  • People who reject socially approved goals and legitimate means of achieving the American dream, leading to drug and drink abuse, petty crimes, and vagrancy as they adopt illegitimate means of survival
• In the 1930s, examples of rebellion could be found in the backdrop of economic turmoil after the Great Depression