Theoretical Analysis
TropJ
Anomieonline.pptxAnomie (or Strain) Theory
Robert K. Merton
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Anomie: most influential sociological explanation
Anomie—at the societal level, there is a breakdown in norms
Greek word, anomia, meaning lawlessness
For sociology majors, Durkheim used anomie in a different way than Merton (so you won’t be confused)
Durkheim: The Division of Labor in Society and expounded upon in Suicide
Suicides were not unrelated and distinct occurrences, but could be viewed as a whole in a given society during a given period of time
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Anomic suicide: societal turbulence occurring when norms disappear and fail to serve as a form of social control. Humans are beings with unquenchable desires and there must be a regulative moral external force (society).
During crises – such as economic disasters or civil war – society and the regulation that society can provide does not function well and suicides will increase
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Robert K. Merton
1938 article and 1958 book Social Theory and Social Structure
To explain crime, look at the level of society (i.e., societal determinism).
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Unlike Durkheim – who saw anomie as episodic and related to a crisis, basically – Merton viewed the United States as in a permanent state of anomie.
Your text focuses on the strain that this produces for the lower-class, but Merton’s theory can account just as well for the crimes of the upper-class. For example, in his writings, Merton explained the robber barons.
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Merton’s interest: “how some social structures exert a definite pressure upon certain persons in the society to engage in nonconformist rather than conformist behavior.”
Societal determinism
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To understand society, two components of social and cultural structures are important.
1) Goals: culturally defined goals, purposes or interests, which are viewed to be legitimate objectives for individuals in the society
U.S. criminogenic due to emphasis on money (economic secular success)
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2) Means: institutionalized means, this component defines, regulates, and controls the modes or means for reaching those aspirations that are deemed acceptable.
(i.e., work hard, get ahead)
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If the goals and means are congruent, or equal to each other, the society is stable. If people can reach the goals of the society through the means that are available, society is stable and crime will be low.
If the goals are means are not equal (i.e., many people cannot attain the goals through the means) the society will be anomic and produce greater crime.
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While there is argument on how much Amish crime is hidden, let us take the Amish as an example of a stable society (and therefore a society with lower deviance).
Amish (a society within a society; as they see themselves as in this world but not of it)
Goals (to live a religious life in community)
Means (practice religion, children don’t go to school beyond eighth grade, simple life, etc.)
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Stable society as people have the means to achieve their goals; low deviance
Anomic society (U.S.)
Goals—economic secular success
Means—work hard, get ahead
Still anomie ensues, as not all can get ahead and the goal is set so high (Bill Gates) that most want more economic secular success than they have without the means to get there; high deviance
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The society is anomic. Merton then asks the following question.
How do individuals adapt or adjust themselves to this situation?
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+ (accept): -- (reject); * explains crime
| Modes of adaptation | goals | means |
| conformity | + | + |
| *innovation | + | -- |
| ritualism | -- | + |
| *retreatism | -- | -- |
| *rebellion | +/-- | +/-- |
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Conformity
Accept goals and means
Work hard and get ahead
A person sets up a small business working many hours each work or goes to college and works hard to achieve success. The person plays by the rules.
Must be as many people as possible to accept this adaptation to improve stability of society.
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Innovation
Accept goals, reject means
Person wants to get ahead and chooses illegitimate means
Maybe the person feels he/she won’t get ahead through legitimate means or wants quick money
(e.g., Mafioso, burglar, drug dealer, street criminal, white collar criminal)
Merton pointed to the robber-barons of the Gilded Age
A common deviant/criminal adaptation
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Ritualism
Reject goals, accept means
The person rejects the goals, but continues to abide by the norms and laws.
(e.g., Merton pointed to the bureaucrat who continues to apply the rules and doesn’t believe in them anymore. You might also consider the person working hard at a minimum wage job who has rejected the American dream because s/he knows economic success is not attainable.
Not pertinent to crime/deviance; plays by the rules
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Retreatism
Rejects goals and means
The person rejects both the goals of society and the means.
(hobos, drug addicts, chronic drunkards, psychotics)
The non-addicted drug dealer is an innovator (wants the money but does not want to play by the rules)
The drug addict is primarily interested in getting high; not interested in either the goals or means.
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Rebellion
Rejects current goals and means of society; advocates for new goals and means (new system)
(e.g., revolutionary, terrorist, cult leader/member)
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Do you agree with Merton?
Does society shape us by pressuring us all to want more economic success?
Do some people succumb to this pressure?
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