Merton’s strain theory

• The root cause of crime lies in the unequal structure of society.
• society values ‘money success’ or wealth as the goal people should pursue and tells them they should achieve this through legitimate means
• not everyone has an equal chance of achieving success legitimately because society is unequal. opportunities for working class people are often blocked by poverty and unemployment. this creates a ’strain’ between the goal and the lack of legitimate means to achieve it.
• for those who cannot achieve society’s goal legitimately, there are 4 possible ways of adapting; innovation, ritualism, retreatism and rebellion.
• innovation: accept the goal but find illegitimate ways to achieve it
• ritualism: ritualises give up striving for success.
• retreatism: retreatists are dropouts who reject both the goal and means
• rebellion: rebels reject the existing goals and means, replacing them with new ones