Merton & Strain Theory Flashcards
What Merton believe is the root cause of crime?
The root cause of crime lies with the unequal structure of society.
How is society unequal according to Merton?
Society values money success or wealth as the goal people should persue and tells them they should achieve this through legitimate means such as hard work at school and in career. However not everyone has an equal chance of achieving success legitimately because opportunities for working class people are often blocked by poverty and inadequate schools. Creating a strain between the goal society says they should achieve and the lack of legitimate means to do so. Therefore they have the same goal but not the same means to achieving it.
What is the ‘American dream’ that Merton focuses on in his studies?
The American dream tells Americans that anyone who makes the effort can get ahead because there’s opportunities for all.
What is Merton’s strain theory?
Everyone has the same goal (achieving the American dream) which supposedly anyone can achieve legitimately through ambition and talent, however due to inequality opportunities to this path is blocked for those with certain characteristics like poor backgrounds leading to people resorting to crime in order to achieve those goals. THEREFORE THERE IS AN ANOMIE BETWEEN THE GOALS AND PEOPLE’S ABILITIES TO ACHIEVE THEM.
What are the four ways in which people adapt to deviance?
-innovation: accept the goals but find illegal ways of achieving them
-ritualism: give up striving for success
-retreatism: rejects the goals and the means to achieving success
-rebellion: reject the goals and the means in society and replace them with new ones
What are some evaluations of Merton and the strain theory?
-STRENGTH: Shows that both normal and deviant behaviours arise from the same goal
-WEAKNESSES: Ignores crime of the wealthy and sees deviances as a solely individual response ignoring group deviance.
