Crime - Y13 - Merton strain theory Flashcards
what are structural factors?
society’s unequal opportunity structure.
what are cultural factors?
the strong emphasis on success goals and the weaker emphasis on using legitimate means to achieve them.
for merton deviance is the result of a strain between two things:
the goals that a culture encourages individuals to achieve and what the institutional structure of society allows them to achieve legitimately.
what is the american dream?
the ideology of the ‘american dream’ tells americans that their society is a meritocratic one where anyone who makes the effort can get ahead - there are opportunities for all.
how are americans expected to pursue the american dream?
by legitimate means: studying, educational qualifications, and hard work in a career.
however, in reality…
it is different: many disadvantaged groups are denied opportunities to achieve legitimately. e.g poverty.
what does the strain of lack of legitimate opportunities and the cultural goals of money success produce? (the strain anomie)
frustation, this in turn creates a pressure to resort to illegitimate means such as crime and deviance.
what does merton argue about the patterns of deviance found in society?
he argues that an individuals position in the social structure affects the way they adapt different types of adaptation.
what are the five different types of adaptation?
conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, rebellion.
what is the conformist group for adaption?
individuals accept the culturally approved goals and strive to achieve them legitimately. this is most likely among middle-class individuals who have good opportunities to achieve, but Merton sees it as the typical response of most americans.
what is the innovation group for adaption?
individuals accept the goal of money success but use ‘new’ illegitimate means such as theft or fraud to achieve it. as we have seen, those at the lower end of the class structure are under greatest pressure to innovate.
what is the ritualism group for adaption?
individuals give up on trying to achieve the goals but have internalised the legitimate means and so they follow the rules for their own sake. this is typical of lower middle-class office workers in. dead-end routine jobs.
what is the retreatism group for adaptation?
individuals reject both the goals and the legitimate means and become dropouts. merton includes ‘psychotics, outcasts, tramps, drunkards and drug addicts’
what is the rebellion group for adaption?
individuals reject the existing societys goals and means, but they replace them with new ones in a desire to bring revolutionary change and create a new kind of society. rebels include political radicals or hippies.
one stength of merton is that…
he is able to explain the patterns shown in official crime statistics.
-most crime is property crime, because american society values material wealth so highly.
-lower class-crime rates are higher, because they have the least opportunity to obtain wealth legitimately.
