Analysis of Strain Theory and Social Disorganization Theory
SW1050 - Introduction to Social Work
University of Cincinnati
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
The research paper analyzes two deviance theories: strain theory and social disorganization
theory. The research paper focuses on the histories of the two theories, main ideas, critics,
challenges, and examples of how they explain deviant behaviors and social work interventions.
The paper also includes the comparison and contrast between the two theories. The paper will
also highlight the methods used by sociologists and criminal scholars
Robert Merton, Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay to develop their hypotheses. Shaw and
Mckay (1942) conducted significant fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution
of delinquency using juvenile court cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930.
Merton focused on the needs, desires, and cultural socialization process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Their methods resulted in different types of deviance and four specific
assumptions which explain delinquency. This research underlines the need to make educated
decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal behavior in
impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
Deviance is defined as any behavior that goes against societal standards and is severe enough
to cause the majority of society to disapprove. Sociologist William Graham Sumner defines
deviance as a transgression of established contextual, cultural, or societal standards, whether
codified legislation or folkways. Deviance has its social context, which helps people
comprehend why some acts are deviant while others are not. Crime is any behavior that violates
laws; hence deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. There have been several theories
associated with deviance within the past five decades. One theory can't offer a complete
understanding of deviance; thus, many sociological theories emerge and provide a thorough
comprehension of deviance together. There are three major classes of sociological theories:
functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociological theories that fall under the functionalist group include strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and social control theory. I will focus on the strain theory and the social
disorganization theory in this research paper. Deviance among the poor, according to Robert
Merton, stems from a disconnect between the societal focus on economic achievement and the
incapacity to achieve such success by legal means. According to Émile Durkheim, deviance
has many functions, including strengthening social bonds among people reacting to the deviant
and leading a positive change. The paper will focus on the historical background of the two
theories, their main ideas, comparison, and various applications of the two theories.
Sociologists Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfeld created Strain Theory in
response to harsh criticism of Classic Strain Theory. Robert K. Merton developed the strain
theory in 1938, whereby he expanded on Durkheim's ideas. According to Merton, the
differences between social goals and individual approaches lead to anomie (Bernburg, 2019).
Durkheim argued on the functionality of deviance in that it challenges people's current views.
Anomie was initially written about by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim's
writing on anomie informed Robert Merton, focusing the research and expanding the theories
in 1938 through his article known "social Structure and Anomie." According to Durkheim, a
breakdown in social norms caused by fast social change rendered societal institutions incapable
of adequately regulating people. Durkheim noted that punishment of deviance reaffirms
currently held social norms, thus contributing to society.
Merton argued that anomie arises from a wrong link between cultural ideals and appropriate
ways of achieving them, which adds to Durkheim's views that anomie results from unregulated
plans. Merton's perspective suggests that the components that contribute to social order and
disorder are not mutually exclusive and that cultural norms with good purposes frequently
contain or cause negative consequences (Deflem & Triplett, 2018). Merton focused on the
cultural socialization, needs, and wants process in his article, "Social
Structure and Anomie." Given Merton's biographical background, he claimed that in the United
States, we are all brainwashed to believe in the unlimited potential and to pursue mass
achievement. For example, Merton stated that while achieving money is a primary objective
for Americans, not all Americans, particularly members of minority and disadvantaged groups,
have the financial resources.
The capacity of strain theory to explain a wide range of deviations is its main contribution. In
emphasizing the significance of social influences in causing deviance, the theory is
sociological. Marginalized individuals, according to Merton, might react to the stress in
multiple ways. Diverse methods for achieving societal objectives and different levels of the
means to achieve those objectives have numerous sorts of deviance. There has been an
emergence of many critics due to the generality of the strain theory. Richard Cloward, a student
of Merton, extended the focus of the strain theory by including the idea of illegitimate means
by arguing that not we cannot assume that everyone has equal access to unlawful ways of
acquiring money, just as not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of acquiring wealth.
According to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, individuals suffering from stress participate
in distinct types of deviance. As a result, Richard's contribution to the strain theory was
significant.
Merton identified five ways people cope when they have a socially acceptable goal but no
socially acceptable way to achieve it. Conformity is the most common adaptation. Conformists
have adopted the goal of the society of riches or success and are attempting to acquire it through
legal methods (Borrego, 2021). Conformity was Merton's sole non-deviant response to anomie
and strain. Individuals are using legitimate measures to attain a societal goal. Although a
conformist may not consistently achieve the desired societal outcome, he fully believes in
society utilizing legal means to achieve it. People use socially acceptable tactics to achieve
their society's desired goals to the degree possible. For example, a student who attends school
to advance his professional career conforms because he adheres to the American cultural ethic
of success through appropriate means. Those who innovate use illicit or deviant methods to
achieve impossible goals legally. The individual shares the society's cultural aim but illegally
acquires it.
Ritualists establish smaller goals until they can attain them in socially acceptable ways. People
who have given up hope of achieving society's goals but utilize society's approved techniques.
In Merton's typology, committed employees who will never move to management are called
ritualists. Others avoid the role pressure by rejecting both society's ideals and acceptable
methods. Some beggars and street people have abandoned society's pursuit of financial
prosperity. Individuals who deny both a society's goals and the right techniques for
accomplishing them prefer to live completely outside societal norms.
Merton's strain theory laid the groundwork for much criminal sociology in the 1950s and 1960s
but heavily criticized it. Hirschi, Johnson, and Kornhauser are writers who have argued that the
strain theory is based on weak empirical support. One criticism of the strain hypothesis is that
it exaggerates the role of socioeconomic class in crime and deviance. Merton's concentration
on crime among the lower classes has also been criticized by sociologists, who believe he
misses why elites, such as corporate and white-collar criminals, break the law. Bernard (1987)
criticizes strain theories for failing to anticipate individuallevel correlations between crime and
dissatisfaction. However, the strain hypothesis does not fully account for any crime other than
typical street or neighborhood crimes when looking at deviant and criminal conduct variance.
The concept of "relative deprivation" asserts that those more minor than others have lower
crime rates, which is one such adjustment.
In 1942, two criminology academics from the "Chicago School," Clifford Shaw and Henry D.
McKay, developed social disorganization theory via their research. Social disorganization
theory states that crime prevails in societies with weak social relationships and a lack of social
control. According to the social disorganization theory, deviance has broad societal causes. A
criminal is not born but develops through time due to circumstances in their social environment.
University of Chicago's researchers grew more worried about expanding urbanization, industry,
and immigration on social organization patterns in Chicago neighborhoods throughout the
1920s and 1930s. Until scholars Shaw and Mckay (1942) were on the scene, crime was not the
subject of study. Park and Burgess' ecological perspective on community processes at the
University of Chicago inspired their method. Shaw and Mckay (1942) conducted significant
fieldwork in the Chicago area, examining the distribution of delinquency using juvenile court
cases and commitments from 1900 to 1930. The Chicago school's primary discoveries are
particularly noteworthy. To begin, researchers discovered that crime and social evils such as
socioeconomic disadvantage occur in tandem throughout Chicago communities. Second,
Chicago researchers studied the longevity of high-crime regions, noticing that they remained
in crime-ridden places regardless of whatever racial group lived there (Kubrin &
Mioduszewski, 2019).
The neighborhood influence features on the Community's capacity and capability people to
adopt and sustain public standards is what social organization offers. According to the social
disorganization theory, communities with significant residence turnover should have high
levels of criminality because they have poor social links and minimal informal supervision. In
physical deterioration, Shaw and McKay found poverty and a higher level of ethnic and cultural
mixing as variables in neighborhoods with the highest crime rates. Shaw and McKay identified
four hypotheses that may be effective in explaining delinquency. The first assumption is the
collapse of community-based controls and the natural reaction of residents in these poor areas
to environmental circumstances. Another assumption is that immigration is rapidly increasing
in disadvantaged urban areas. The third premise is that rivalry and dominance's "ecological
approach" impacts businesses near disadvantaged regions. The fourth premise is that
disadvantaged metropolitan areas stimulate the development of criminal values, which
eventually displace societal standards. (Bellair, 2017).
As alternative individual-level theories of crime gained favor in the 1960s, critics became more
vocal. Despite the ongoing shift in the area, some experts find it challenging to believe crime
can be stable. Other critics include tautology, police records, replications, and neighborhoods.
Under tautology, many studies have used a neighborhood's crime rate to indicate social
disorganization. The presence of crime in an area was likely to result in more crime. Many
researchers question how one acquires data at the neighborhood level because many
researchers use census data, not neighborhood data. Official police data may demonstrate that
specific neighborhoods are being scrutinized by the police more than other regions, not that
they have more criminal activities. Some researchers have conducted the same study in the
neighborhood and found mixed results.
It's worth noting that these ideas frequently differ in numerous features and ideologies.
According to social disorganization and strain theories, social order, stability, and integration
encourage compliance, whereas instability and malintegration encourage crime and deviance.
For example, the strain theory emphasizes the significance of social influences in causing
deviance; the theory is also sociological. Disadvantaged individuals, according to Merton,
might react to the stress in several ways. At the same time, by looking at structural and cultural
components that influence the framework of social order in different civilizations, the concept
of social disorganization explains ecological variations in crime levels. The strain theory claims
that certain stresses frequently contribute to criminal activity. In contrast, the social
disorganization theory claims that criminal behavior is directly linked to the features of the
local ecological context (Antunes & Manasse, 2022).
Example of deviance and application of the strain and social disorganization theories
My cousin had a friend who had relocated to a new place. Later, he discovered a high level of
criminal activities in that area. The area was a disadvantaged neighborhood. He was later
arrested because of shoplifting. Using the social disorganization theory, his friend acquired
criminal-like behavior because he was from a disadvantaged community which introduced him
to a subculture that approves delinquency. The stressors that led to the criminal-like behavior
were criminal activities in the area using the strain theory.
Families are one of the important socializing influences in a person's life. My cousin's friend
lacked moral guidance from his parent, which led to him engaging in criminal activities.
Competent social workers can provide services connected to family crisis intervention to offer
a successful intervention. These services use an educational approach to working with families.
Social workers also give parents delinquency prevention training. This course covers excellent
family management and child parenting techniques. Social workers and parents might also
monitor and supervise the juvenile's behavior ("Asian Social Work Journal," 2022).
The concept of social disorganization has gained much attention in criminology since its debut
in 1942. Shaw and McKay's results have been supported by an extensive study in major
American cities. The social dysfunction hypothesis is frequently used to predict juvenile
violence and crime. Diverse approaches to society's goals and discrepancies in access to the
resources necessary to achieve those goals combine to generate varied forms of deviance.
Various techniques to society's aspirations and varying levels of access to the resources needed
to achieve those goals combine to produce a variety of deviations. This research underlines the
need to make educated decisions based on information to develop solutions to reduce criminal
behavior in impoverished neighborhoods, making them safer for everyone.
References
Asian Social Work Journal. Media.neliti.com. (2022). Retrieved 19 May 2022, from
https://media.neliti.com/media/publications/322890-dealing-with-juveniledelinquency-integr-
9554d616.pdf.
Antunes, M. J. L., & Manasse, M. (2022). Social disorganization and strain: macro and micro
implications for youth violence. Journal of research in crime and delinquency, 59(1), 82-127.
Bellair, P. (2017). Social disorganization theory. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of
Criminology and Criminal Justice.
Bernburg, J. G. (2019). Anomie theory. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and
Criminal Justice.
Borrego, Andrea R. "Anomie and The Purge." In Theories of Crime Through Popular
Culture, pp. 43-57. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2021.
Deflem, M., & Triplett, R. A. (2018). Anomie, Strain, and Opportunity Structure: Robert K.
Merton's Paradigm of Deviant Behavior. The Handbook of the History and Philosophy of
Criminology, 140-155.
Kubrin, C. E., & Mioduszewski, M. D. (2019). Social disorganization theory: Past, present and
future. In Handbook on crime and deviance (pp. 197-211). Springer, Cham.
