Robert K. Merton

Emile Durkheim, was a French sociologist. His theories and writings helped establish the foundations of modern sociology. Durkheim disagreed with most social theorists of the late 1800 's because they thought that individual psychology was the basis of sociology. Durkheim regarded sociology as the study of the society that surrounds and influences the individual. Durkheim explained his theories in his book The Rules of Sociological Method (1895). He says there is relationship between moral values and religious beliefs, which establishes unity in society.Emile Durkheim has long been viewed as one of the founders of the so called variables oriented approach to sociological investigation. Durkheim developed the theory that societies are bound together by two sources of unity. He called these sources mechanical solidarity and organic solidarity. Mechanical solidarity refers to similarities that many people in the society share, such as values and religious beliefs. Organic solidarity results from the division of labor into specialized jobs. Durkheim believed that the division of labor makes people depend on one another and thus helps create unity in a society. Durkheim studied thousands of cases of suicide to demonstrate his theory that a person commits suicide because of the

To understand the real motives of criminals, sociologists explain their deviance behavior and illegal activities based on the principles of different sociological crime theories. The sociological crime theories provide guidelines and principles that help criminologists in understanding and solving particular criminal incidences. This paper provides a description, analysis, comparison, and contrast between two sociological crime theories, including anomie and labeling theories. The anomie theory refers to the state of confusion arising due to the conflict, disagreement, or absenteeism of social customs.

Anomie, first developed by Emile Durkheim, is very evident in today's society. The concept of anomie, according to Durkheim, is a state of normlessness, where individuals are succumbed to deregulation in their lives and through out their society brought on by a social change. Robert K. Merton, following the ideas of Durkheim, developed his own notion of anomie, called Strain Theory. Merton argued that anomie was a day to day function in society, seen as a social structure that embraces the same goals to all of its members without giving them equal means to achieve them. In the name of progress, modern society has promised a better world, yet in modern society anomie has not become the exception but instead the norm.

Merton's Anomie theory versus his Social-Bond theory was persuasively building on one another. When one commits an act resulting in the explanation of anomie it is a push and pull force that shows how a person will weigh the options to see how an act will be weighed on their survivability. With Social-Bond theory our family governs our conscience on whether we should do an act such as burglary. Using the

Question Four Institutional anomie theory explains that high crime rates in America can be attributed to the pursuit of material success; meaning that Americans have tendencies to commit crime because of the possible benefits that could be obtained (Schoepfer, Piquero 1). This theory has yet to be applied directly to white collar crime; however, the ideology seems fitting, giving that the motives behind most white-collar crimes are the same as other forms of crime: personal gain (monetary gain, material gain, and/or social status). One distinct characteristic of the American society is the pursuit of the American Dream; which is defined as the equal opportunity for all to achieve monetarily successfulness through hard work, dedication, and persistence

In this essay, I am going to discuss critical criminology. Within this I am going to be discussing the difference in the implementation of the criminal law and whether it is due to the difference to the social position of the two types of offenders, for example white collar crimes. These types of crimes are orientated to legitimate and respectable careers. Therefore, when looking at this quote, I will use the themes that are apparent and consider how critical criminology deals with these themes. I will be looking further into this quote and finding out what critical criminology is and about white collar crimes.

Anomie is a complex, dynamic concept that refers simultaneously to a social state and an individual state of mind. It was first emerged in 1893 by French sociologist Emile Durkheim. He stated that the rules of how individuals act with one another were unraveling, leaving the expectations of behavior unclear, and therefore people were unable to determine how to act with one another. With lack of all expectations, this leaves individuals being steered towards feelings of worthlessness, lack of purpose, and frustration. Due to feeling alienated and no alternatives, a person may fall into criminal activity.

Durkheim’s Anomie Theory essentially described anomie as a condition in which society provides little moral guidance to individuals. It is the breakdown of social bonds between an individual and the community. This theory was initially popularized by Durkheim in his influential book titled Suicide. Durkheim never uses the term normlessness but instead he describes anomie as "derangement", and "an insatiable will”. For Durkheim, anomie occurs more generally from a mismatch between personal or group standards and wider social standards, or from the lack of a social ethic, which produces moral deregulation and an absence of legitimate aspirations. Durkheim often

In his article, Robert K. Merton explains the role of social structure in generating anomie, which is the sense of lawlessness and alienation within individuals. Merton also discusses between the adoption of culturally prescribed goals, and how these goals are acceptably achieved. Merton begins his article by defining conformity, and how some social structures add pressure upon certain individuals. Merton then breaks down the social structure into two important sections or phases, and how both sections or phases intertwine and how they are both different. One section is described as the culturally defined goals, purposes, and interests. The other section, is the regulation and controls acceptable in achieving goals. Merton then goes on to discuss

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.).

Durkheim also had a theory on anomie (lack of the usual social or ethical standards) but Robert Merton another functionalist regarding this idea of anomie too vague. In Social Structure and Anomie (1938) Merton argued that deviance results was not from `pathological personalities` but from the culture and structure of society itself. He states that it is not value consensus, (when all members of society share the same values), but believes society itself is placed in different positions in the social scale. (class position) In Merton's words :

Merton’s work in “Social structure and anomie”, from McLaughlin, E. & Muncie, J. (2013) Criminological perspectives, 3rd ed., London: Sage, pp.74-84) outlines how in a modern capitalist society that was under pressure, deviance occurs when there is an imbalance between social structure (approved social means) and culture (approved goals). Inspired by Durkheim, Merton named this norm breakdown or tension as anomie, as defined by Durkheim as “as condition where social and/or moral norms are confused, unclear, or simply not present.” (find source) Durkheim felt that this lack of norms led to deviant behaviour. Merton uses the example of the ‘American Dream’ and the cultural goal of being able to succeed and gain wealth through hard work) was that some people in society were unable to achieve this dream, in which they resorted to different individual adaptions of cultural goals and institutionalised means which

Durkheim was an early sociologist whom is widely known for his theories on the structure of society, including its functioning in traditional and modern societies and the contrast between individualism yet social order. Unlike the other sociologists of his era, his theories analysed external features or "social facts", such as social structure, rather than internal/ psychological features such as a person 's desires and motives. These social facts are made up of the values, morals and structures within a society. "According to Durkheim collective consciousnesses, values and rules are critical to a functional society" (Hurst, 2015). Durkheim 's book "Suicide" (2002) presented the concept of anomie. "The term anomie refers to a condition or state in which

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.

Karl Marx, Max Weber and Emile Durkheim have had a great influence in the development of sociology. Marx’s “Capitalism”, Weber’s “Bureaucracy” and Durkheim’s “Division of Labour” have significantly created their own spots as major and famous sociological theories.