SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES/SCHOOL

ROBERT MERTON:
ANOMIE/STRAIN THEORY

PRESENTATION BY:
1. KADUNGURE MAXWELL T.
2. MASONDO WITHUS
 ROBERT MERTON

Robert K. Merton:
• Developed the structural strain theory as an extension to the
functionalist perspective on deviance.
• The word Anomie means lack of norms (normlessness) and
refers to a condition of tension and frustrations occurring
within an individual as a way of adequate means to achieve
accepted goals.
• Merton believed that social conditions place pressures on
people differentially throughout the class structure, and
people react individually to these conditions. While Durkheim
assumed that humans are naturally inclined to have unlimited
desires that must be socially controlled, Merton felt that such
desires are socially generated.
• The basic thesis of the anomie or strain theory
is that crime stems from the lack of articulation
or “fit” between two of the most basic
components of society: culture and social
structure.
• This “lack of fit” creates strain within individuals,
who respond with various forms of deviance
• Based in part upon empirical observation of who
was being arrested and incarcerated, Merton argued
that a disjunction between socially accepted means
and culturally specified goals was the cause of
criminal behavior.
 THE STRAIN THEORY
• ROBERT MERTON (1910-2003) argued that society
may be set up in a way that encourages too much
deviance.
• He believed that when societal norms or socially
accepted goals place pressure in the individual to
conform, they force the individual to either
work within the structure society has produced,
or instead become members of a deviant
subculture in an attempt to achieve these
goals. Merton termed this theory Strain Theory.
 TYPOLOGY OF DEVIANCE AND
EXAMPLES
• Merton’s main concern was that societies
such as the united states do not provide the
means (access to education, employment,
etc.) to achieve cultural goals ( the American
Dream)
• When individuals are faced with a gap
between ‘what ought to be’ and ‘what is’,
that person will feel strained and have a
choice between five modes of adaptation.
• the term ‘American Dream’ is used in many ways,
but it essentially is an idea that suggests that
anyone in the US can succeed through hard work
and has a potential to lead a happy, successful
life.
• Many people have expanded upon or refined the
definition to include such things as freedom,
fulfillment and meaningful relationships. Someone
who manages to achieve his or her version of the
American dream is said to be ‘living the dream’.
• He used the lifestyle concept of the American
dream which places greater emphasis on material
success.
 THE 5 MODES OF ADAPTATION:

Merton outlined five possible ways that

members of the American society could
respond to success goals:
1. Conformity
2. Ritualism
3. Innovation
4. Retreatism
5. Rebellion
 1. CONFORMISTS
• Conformists are people who believe in
normative means for attaining goals
legitimately. They follow the rules of society.
• An example would be a successful investor or
businessman who is economically successful
because of their employment or hard work.
 2. RITUALISTS
• Ritualists are individuals who stop trying to
achieve goals but believe in using legitimate
means of attaining goals. (follow rules)
• For example staying in a dead end job.
 3. INNOVATORS
• Innovators are those individuals that accept the
cultural goals of society but reject the
conventional methods of attaining these goals.
• They use different ways to achieve these goals.
(criminal)
• An example is a stockbroker who engages in
illegal inside trading. The cultural goal of wealth
is accepted, but non-traditional means of insider
trading are used. Drug dealers, thieves and
prostitutes are examples of innovators.
 4. RETREATISTS
• Retreatists are individuals who reject both
the cultural goals and the accepted means of
attaining the goals.
• They simply avoid both goals and means
established by society without replacing
those norms with their own counter-cultural
forces.
• For example- severe alcoholics, some
homeless people, and hermits.
 5. REBELS
• Rebels not only reject both the established
cultural goals and the accepted means of
attaining these goals.
• Instead, they substitute new goals and new
means of attaining these goals to bring
about revolutionary change and create a new
society.
• Examples of rebels include the American Nazi
party, ‘skinheads’ and the Ku Klux Klan.
 EVALUATION
• Merton shows how normal and deviant behaviour
can arise from having the same mainstream
goals.
How does he explain 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 least opportunity to obtain weath
legitimately.
 How does this link to white collar crime?
• Merton’s strain theory has been developed in an attempt to
explain white collar crime.
• People turn to illegal means to become successful and attain
monetary goals.
• They experience strain to anomie which weakens the
mechanisms of social control
• So corporations may find that legal ways of
maintaining or increasing their profits are
ineffective.
• Therefore there is pressure to turn to illegal means-
fraud, ignoring health and safety environmental
regulations.