Merton's Criminological Theory

All individuals have the ability to conform to the rules and norms of society. Merton’s Strain Theory suggests people feel strain when they are unable to attain society’s goals and/or beliefs. Then, because they are not able to appropriately achieve these goals in the way society says to, some will do so by committing criminal behaviors. This theory also explains, in society there are

In American society money is seen as the purpose of life, overemphasized. In attaining that money, for some individuals is not always great but the money in the end, the goal, is greater. Success is attainable for everyone which leaves failure to be the fault of the individual. Merton described five modes of adaptation, depending on the individual's attitudes toward cultural goals and institutional means to attain them. The first approach to the adaptation of strain in society is Conformity, the most common. Individuals accept both the goals as well as the advised means for attaining those goals. The last four adaptations Merton described were seen as deviant; Innovation, Ritualism, Retreatism, and Rebellion. Individuals

"When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw," (Kazi, 2017). The modern societies around the world put a high importance on preventing criminal activity and rectifying behavior that leads to crime. In an ongoing struggle against corruption, many sociologists, and psychologists have done in-depth research to understand what is the cause of crime in our society. Initially, in 1893, Emile Durkheim first came up with the idea called Anomie Theory to explain why offenses take place in our communities. Durkheim reported that crimes took place in our society because there was a lack of ethical norms and social standards within our communities (Walsh, 2018).However, almost half a century later, Robert K. Merton developed Merton's Strain Theory to thoroughly explain why some people in our society are more likely to commit crimes than the others who don’t. Merton’s Strain Theory argues that corruption not only occurs in our communities because we lack norms in our society, but are also caused by the strains that are present among us as individuals which influence people to commit the crime. In his explanation, people will resort to achieving success through illegitimate means when they are blocked from acquiring success through legitimate means (Walsh, 2018). After studying the classical strain theories, I think that Merton’s Strain Theory explains street crimes such as robbery, theft, assault, and drug dealing better than

Merton was addressing USA economic conditions during the economic depressions in the 1930s. He argued that although USA society believed that it was a meritocratic society where there was equality of opportunities, there were people who couldn’t reach the primary cultural goal (e.g. economic or financial success) through the legitimate means such as hard work, sacrifice and delaying gratification.

The term Social Justice can be traced back to the twentieth century where the pursuit began by individuals, communities and societies, some argue that perhaps the fight for social justice maybe ending (Miller, 1999). Robert Merton’s work had major influence on the school of functionalism, especially in America during the 1940s and 1950s especially as functionalism was mainly concerned with social order (Tierney, 1996). Merton’s focus was crime and deviance even though he was not a criminologist; his ideas were first published in 1993 in an article titled ‘Social structure and anomie’ which illustrated his connection to Durkheim. A book called ‘Social theory and social structure’ was later published which discussed strain theory, the first attempt to answer the prominent question of how society impacts individuals to act in a deviant / criminal manner.

Robert K. Merton developed the structural strain theory which focuses on the traces of deviance that are caused by the gap between cultural goals and how available those goals are to be achieved, in other worlds the ‘American dream’. Merton uses this theory to explain the changes, when an individual feels disconnected with normal norms. He believes that in all cases from conventional crime to WCC the crime is motivated and it is not natural. For that reason he says that there are five adaptations that conventional crime and WCC criminals adapt in result of committing a crime. They are: conformist, innovator, ritualism,

Criminological Analysis Robert Merton’s strain theory is based on that crime is a result of a strain between economic classes. His theory assumes that people are motivated to gaining the American dream of a comfortable lifestyle but some people find it hard to go through traditional means to achieving that lifestyle. Society sets these high standards through the media and marketing that are unrealistic to the average American. Merton has 5 key different characteristic categories that society adapts in setting the goal and achieving the goal. The first is conformity.

After reading Scarver’s letter and learning more about his childhood and upbringing, I believe Robert Merton’s Strain Theory can help explain some of the early stages of Scarver’s criminality. According to an article published by the University of Minnesota Duluth, Robert Merton wrote an article in the 1940s claiming that biology cannot be the leading cause of crime because biological theories do not explain why crimes and deviance differ from one society to the next. He was interested in understanding why marginalized groups of a society had outstandingly higher rates of deviance than the majority groups of the same society. Merton uses Emile Durkheim’s concept of anomie, but slightly changes the meaning to fit his theory. Durkheim used the term anomie to describe a situation in which cultural norms fall apart because of a dramatic change in the society. Merton, on the other hand, used anomie to refer to the disconnect marginalized groups have between typical cultural goals and the typical means to achieve them (“Anomie”, n.d.).

Before we embark on description and analysis of a General Strain Theory of criminology, it is important to, first of all, understand the meaning of the term "criminology". Criminology, as defined by the two social theorists, Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham of Italy and England respectively in their classical school of criminology, is the scientific study of crime, its causes, law enforcement as well as prevention measures taken to curb and control the crime in this case. Despite the fact that criminology has lots of fields including sociology, economics, psychology, biology, psychiatry, statistics and even anthropology, the term also has various theories explaining the real concepts surrounding crime, criminal and criminologist. The reason as to why these theories are many is that criminologists are trying as much as possible to seek the best solutions for reducing the levels and types of crimes. In this regards, the specific theory of criminology that will be described and analyzed in this paper is the General Strain Theory.

For this assignment, the importance of criminological theories will be discussed. Two theories will then be selected, and the main points talked about in explaining delinquency, along with possible deterrent and prevention methods for juveniles.

As a component of critical criminology, social conflict within societies is believed to be derived from class conflict and is associated with the ideas of Karl Marx. From his view, he theorized that crime would occur less frequently if equality was initiated more frequently in place of discrimination. In analyzing the development of critical criminology, this theory addresses the externalizations produced by a capitalist society and how this may result in in a more competitive society that ultimately leads to crime through economic opposition. Typically, critical criminologists view law as a tool for maintaining control through those in power. Those who have remained in control in powerful positions, have been more likely to accumulate and maintain wealth as well.

In Merton’s version of the anomie/strain theory he pointed out five adaptations to strain: conformity, innovation, rebellion, ritualism, and retreatism. Conformity means that one accepts both the goal and the means. They may try to attain the goals with limited means. This adaptation is most common in society. Innovation means that one accepts the goals but rejects the means. This individual has a “by any means necessary” attitude when it comes to the attainment of goals. Rebellion means that one rejects both the means and the goals. They may substitution those goals and means with their own goals and means. Ritualism means that one rejects the goals and responds to the means in a slavish and conforming attitude. Retreatism means one rejects both the goals and means, but they do not replace with their own goals and mean. Instead, they will drop out of society and into things such as alcoholism, drug addiction, and homelessness. This adaptation is the least common in society.

Strain theory refers to when people turn to crime and deviancy when they feel unable to achieve socially approved goals through legitimate means. (Agnew, 1992).

Merton’s Anomie Theory believes that society shapes the cultural norms and values of people and also their aspirations and the approved methods of achieving such aspirations. Merton considers that there is a link between anomie in society and the difference between the levels of emphasis placed on aspirations and those placed on the means of realizing these aspirations in society; the smaller the difference the less likely anomie will occur. Merton also believes that crime is caused by society although he believes it is not useful to society; Merton believes that crime is a representation of the poor organization of society. In American culture, monetary success is the predominant cultural goal, but not everyone has the same access to attain it. Some people respond to this disjunction in criminal ways. Components of adaptation to strain include conformity which is when people embrace conventional social goals and also have the means to attain them, they can choose to conform. They remain law-abiding.

Merton’s work has contributed greatly to criminological theory as he took a different perspective than Durkheim’s concept of anomie and reworked to the American context. The theories and concepts of anomie and strain that Merton argued have influenced the works of Cohen as well as the New Deviancy Theory and the New Penology. Therefore, Strain theory has evolved across time to encompass different situational circumstances of crime. Furthermore, due to the individual’s inability to achieve the appropriate cultural status, the idea of reference groups have also been highly relevant to today’s understanding of crime. Where evaluating oneself against peers constantly occurs as people try to better or compete against others.