(3) Merton

What did Robert Merton suggest about anomie?

• anomie occurs because people find themselves in situations wherein they can’t realise the goals of society by legitimate means, but social norms fail to offer guidance about how to proceed

• they experience “strain” to find a solution (“strain theory”)

• members of American society share major values of American culture eg. goal of success (“American Dream”)

• all societies have institutionalised means of reaching culturally-defined goals eg. in American, through ambition, effort, talent + determination; but since individuals are located in dif. positions in the social structure, they don’t have the same opportunity to realise shared values

• “the social + cultural structure generates pressure for socially deviant behaviour upon people variously located in that structure”

What did Merton outline as the 5 possible ways in which members of American society could adapt to “strain”?

1. CONFORMITY ~ to both success goals + the normative means of reaching them

2. INNOVATION ~ rejection of both normative means of achieving success; turning to deviant means eg. crime

   • argues members of LC more likely to do this as least likely to succeed via conventional channels

   • membership of LC not itself sufficient to produce deviance; however in societies like the USA, where all members share the same success goals, pressure operates forcefully on LC

   • innovators have been “imperfectly socialized so that they abandon institutional means while retaining success-aspirations”

3. RITUALISM ~ abandonment of commonly held success goals

   • pressure is greatest for lower-MC; occupations provide fewer opportunities than those of upper-MC, but socialised to conform to social norms more than LC

4. RETREATISM ~ strong internalisation of both cultural goals + institutionalised means, yet inability to achieve success

   • least common response

   • may resolve conflict by abandoning both goals + means, dropping out of society (“chronic drunkards”, “drug addicts” etc.)

5. REBELLION ~ rejection of both success goals + means, replacing them with dif. goals/means

   • wish to create a new society

   • “typically members of a rising class rather than the most depressed strata”

What evidence supports Merton’s theory that there are 5 possible responses to strain (conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism and rebellion)?

• Hannon + Defronzo: studied 406 metropolitan counties in the USA

  • found that those with higher levels of welfare provision had lower crime levels

  • argued that welfare provision reduced level of strain felt by those ill-placed to achieve material success by legitimate means & thus reduced anomie

• Savelsberg (1995): Merton’s strain theory can explain the rapid rises in the crime rate in post-communist Poland, East Germany, Russia etc.

  • Poland had its 1st free elections in 1989 & in the subsequent year, the crime rate rose by 69%

  • communist culture emphasised collective responsibility > individual financial success; its replacement with market capitalism led to material expectations + strain towards criminal innovation

How might Merton’s strain theory be criticised?

• sociologists sometimes accused of dressing-up common sense in obscure lang. eg. Merton stating that criminals are seeking financial success by illegitimate means (however, this ignores powerful recognition that American Dream = central feature of American culture + that class structure militates against equal opportunities)

• critics argue he neglects power relationships within which deviance + conformity occur eg. Laurie Taylor: Merton doesn’t carry his analysis far enough, failing to consider who makes/benefits from the laws

• ignores white-collar, corporate + state crime (however, Reiner: “Merton was well aware […] of the way that official statistics disproportionately record crime in the streets” ~ Merton explains that American society places no upper limit on success —> white-collar crime)

• Merton’s theory fails to explain non-acquisitive crime eg. violence, vandalism etc.