Merton referred to his book on the shoulders of giants. On the negative side, anomie theory has been criticized for its generality. For more than thirty years mertons anomie theory has been. It has since been translated into a dozen languages and both the impact and continuing status of. Strain theory how social values produce deviance social. The first is largely found in studies that fault the theory for not taking into account other important causal factors of deviance such as social interaction and illegitimate opportunity for success cohen, 1965.
Deviance, crime, and social control 2012 book archive. Merton s typology constructed five types of deviance. Mertons numerous childhood encounters composed a basis for his theory of social structure. Merton, on the other hand, is more concerned with social regulation of the means people use to obtain material goals. Modern sociological theory has been profoundly influenced by functional analysis which became enormously popular. Last week we introduced deviance as a concept, but today were going return to our major paradigms in sociology and how each approaches deviance. Robert king merton was an american sociologist who is considered a founding father of.
Robert merton in his theoretical analysis of social structure and anomie takes inspiration from durkheims work. Anomiestrain theory chapter 4 anomiestrain theory sage. Mertons most popular book is social theory and social structure. The book addresses positivistic theories of deviant behavior within a description of the deviance process that encompasses the work of deviance claims. American sociologists richard cowan and lloyd ohlin extended robert k. Mertons social strain theory to directly address juvenile delinquency and social class.
However, since that time, cole says that the fieid of deviance. According to merton, there are five types of deviance based upon these criteria. Cloward teamed up with lloyd ohlin in 1960 to write the book delinquency and opportunity. Merton s 1938 classic strain theory and its revisions of cohen 1955 and cloward and ohlin 1960. Mertons theory was seen as predicting high rates of crime and deviance among. These critiques may be divided into three major types. Culturally prescribed goals are the values in a society and the. Other explanations highlight the role played by the social and physical characteristics of urban neighborhoods, of deviant subcultures, and of weak bonds to social institutions. Merton 1938 concluded that americans were socialised into believing in the american dream. Many sociological theories of deviance exist, and together they offer a more.
Critics note the theorys lack of statements concerning the process of learning. Merton defines culture as an organized set of normative values governing behavior which is common to members of a designated society or group. Social roles were central to mertons theory of social groups. Among many other fields and topics were deviance theory, organizations, and. Merton discussed deviance in terms of goals and means as part of his strainanomie theory. The other major contribution to the anomie tradition is robert mertons theoretical analysis of social structure and anomie 1938. Mertons strain theory assumed that deviance among the poor results from their inability to achieve the economic success so valued in american society. Mertons strain theory is an important contribution to the study of crime and deviance in the 1940s it helped to explain why crime continued to exist in countries, such as america, which were experiencing increasing economic growth and wealth.
While durkheims concept of anomie was rather vague, merton explains the idea in quite a detailed way. Failure to achieve the american dream lies at the heart of robert mertons 1938 merton, r. Fatalistic suicide occurs when a person experiences too much social regulation. The other three options strain theory, social disorganization theory, and cultural deviance are functionalist approaches to explaining deviance in society. Deviance, crime and social organization robert mertons theory of deviance, sometimes referred to as the structural strain theory, is comprised of five forms of adaptation to societal goals and the means to achieve those goals. Strain theory merton in his theory of deviance indicates that deviants are not a cubcultural group. Merton has 32 books on goodreads with 7647 ratings. Durkheims work provided the intellectual foundation for mertons attempt to develop a macrolevel explanation of rates of normviolating behavior in american society. Mertons theory of anomie is a borrowing but essentially different from that of durkheim. In this theory, merton believes that deviant behavior is due to conditions in the social structure.
It provided the intellectual foundation for mertons attempt to develop a macrolevel explanation of rates of norm violating behaviour in american society. Social theory and social structure merton, robert k. Although the idea has been, and still is controversial, the suggestion that sociologists develop middlerange theories which come between grand theories and more narrow empirical observations struck a chord with some. Deviance, crime and social organization robert mer. Rather people manifest deviant behaviour in different spheres of social life. Sociological theories of deviance social sci libretexts. Cole writes that mertons theory specified how a certain type of society and location within that society generates motivation to commit deviant behavior and notes that artomie theory was probably the dominant theory in the area of deviance through the late 1960s.
The field of criminology and criminal justice has employed many of mertons prominent concepts such as anomie, strain, manifest and latent functions, selffulfilling prophecy, deviant, and the theory of reference groups. The social construction of and social reactions to crime and deviance, including the role of the mass media. These theories seek to understand deviance by focusing on social structures and. A subculture is a group of people with a culture that differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong. Merton proposed a typology of deviance based on the importance of an individuals adherence to societal goals and the ability of the individual to use legitimate means to achieve them. Contributors focus on the new body of empirical research and theorizing that has been added to the anomie tradition that extends from durkheim to merton. Robert k mertons strain theory explained sociology. Deviance is determined behavior, a product of causation. Failure to achieve the american dream lies at the heart of robert mertons 1938merton, r. Social constructions and blurred boundaries draws on uptodate scholarship across a wide spectrum of deviance categories, providing a symbolic interactionist analysis of the deviance process. Merton s theory on deviance stems from his 1938 analysis of the relationship between culture, structure and anomie. Power elite theory is an approach within the conflict theory school of deviance, and is not considered a functionalist approach.
Determinism deviance is a label, defined as such at a given time and place. Social strain theory was developed by famed american sociologist robert k. Buy social theory and social structure 1968 enlarged ed by merton, robert k. Our values, beliefs, goals, and identities are developed in the cultural realm. The first edition of mertons magisterial social theory and social structure was published in 1949. So, the views are at different ends of the spectrum. Robert mertons contribution to sociology is one of great importance in regards to the functional perspective of society.
Robert merton anomie theory essay example graduateway. Different explanations of the social distribution of crime and deviance. Merton is unarguably one of the most influential sociologists of his time. This new printing is not a newly revised edition, only an enlarged one. The only other changes are technical and minor ones. While mertons theory was based on 20 th century america, it is transferable to any contemporary, western, developed capitalist society. P r e s e n t i n gg s ta s another revision at the social psychological level, agnew. It is a sociological and criminological term that primarily suggests that those who cannot hope to achieve some kind of american dream will receive the constant burden of not necessarily being rejected for not achieving their goals, but not having the resources that.
Merton, in this book, also introduced the notion of theories of the middlerange to sociology. Durkheim developed the theory of anomie, a state where there is an absence of norms regulating human behaviour. Society creates a strain between culturally prescribed goals and the socially structured means to achieve them. For a more extensive discussion of mertons theories refer to macro social theory by frank w. The dominant criticism leveled at mertons work is the oversight of not analyzing power and defintion. Thus, merton defined several adaptations to anomie and strain.
Mertons strain theory robert merton argued that society can be set up in a way that encourages too much deviance. It is a more elaborate formulation of a theory that applies to a society like usa, where people believe in and are committed to the pursuit of some desirable ends e. Strain theory, according to robert merton, deviance among the poor results from a. Many commonplace concepts can be traced to this book, for example, reference groups, selffulling prophecy, and the anomie theory of deviance, to name a. Strain theory, social disorganization theory, and cultural deviance theory represent three functionalist perspectives on deviance in society. Social strain theory was developed by famed american.
Strain theory refers to when people turn to crime and deviancy when they feel unable to achieve socially approved goals through legitimate means. Using an integrated typology of deviance to expand mertons anomie theory. Wright university of oklahoma the american sociologist 1979, vol. Merton developed strain theory, a concept connected to both the functionalist perspective on deviance and emile durkheims theory of anomie. The relationship between deviance, power and social control. The theory is also sociological in its emphasis on the role of social forces in creating deviance. Robert mertons theory of social structure and anomie seeks to explain deviance. Merton, argues deviance and crime comes from strain, the presence of norms. Where durkheim states that anomie is the confounding of social norms, merton goes further and states that anomie is the state in which social. Merton asserted that societies are composed of two core aspects. Jessika hilton cj 3270 theory paper november 11, 2014 conflict theory and mertons anomie theory. However, equal access to those goals did not exist.
551 1160 97 616 836 300 859 719 1460 1017 332 259 1024 481 804 1508 1302 1433 44 757 1207 1248 322 1248 684 1271 127 824 1501 603 594 784 866 1381 987 1061 618 1060 1111 341 1458 1179 262 838 957 107 407