Merton stops short of addressing the core social institutions, values, and structures that reinforce anomie but his essay prompts sociologists to postulate which structures or value may be culprits.
The author does offer three "success prototypes" extant in American culture. First, all Americans are encouraged to strive for the same goals and those goals are believed to be possible for all. Second, any stumbling blocks along the way will soon transform into success. Hope is integral to the American Dream. Third, by aiming high, the only way a person can fail is to not participate or not play the game.
Merton also describes five types of individual adaptations to social goals. A person may shift from one of these adaptation patterns to another depending on the circumstance. The most common adaptation tool in stable societies is conformity. Innovation is another tool of adaptation in a culture like ours, in which the pressure to succeed is often divorced from clearly explicated or poorly enforced means by which to achieve success. Merton centers his theory on financial attainment and its role in American society. The author's ideas still hold true nearly a century after Merton published "Social Structure and Anomie" but the theory can also extend to different social realities and cultures. For instance, Merton's theory would be helpful in illuminating the differences between cultures like ours, in which "the sacrosanct goal virtually consecrates the means," and cultures that are nearly opposite on Merton's continuum. Cultures that condone female genial mutilation, for example, or those that overemphasize religion at the expense of reason are ones that fall into Merton's category of "ritualism" (p. 232-3). Furthermore, Merton's explanation of deviance as being a natural, not abnormal response, forces sociologists to work harder to unearth structural causes for social conflict. Not all criminological problems can be blamed on psychological...
Criminology Robert Merton was the brain behind Anomie Theory. This theory majors on deviance. The theory's major preoccupation is why rates of deviance differ from one society to the other and from one subgroup that come from one society to the other. Merton's work emphasizes cultures' unifying aspects and how it can create deviance and disunity within a society. Cultural norms, according to this theory, break down as a result of
Conformity and Obedience BEYOND CONSCIOUS AWARENESS Influences of Conformity and Obedience The Concepts of Conformity and Obedience Compared Obedience is a form of social influence in which a person of authority makes a direct command to someone to perform something (McLeod, 2007). It involves changing one's behavior according to the commands of authority (Brehm, Kassin & Fein, 1999 as qtd in Southerly, 2012). Conformity is another form of social influence brought about by social
influential theories related to deviance by Robert K. Merton. Firstly, the paper provides the historical context within which the theorist produced their ideas. Secondly, the paper provides a summary of their original theory. Thirdly, the paper provides a discussion of how the model has been critiqued and altered as new research has emerged. Lastly, the paper delves into the theory's current usage/popularity within criminology. The historical context within which the
If his father had been violent with him, Jeremiah would have that experience to draw upon in order to solve problems. He may have seen violence as the only way out of the situation. Moreover, Jeremiah's extreme insecurity led him to be fully engaged in conditioned thinking, which compelled him to assert the validity of his worldview by any means necessary. In this instance, that meant resorting to murder
In that regard, Agnew's version of strain theory no longer explains the marked difference in male and female homicide rates, simply because it downplays the importance of the types of strains described by Merton. Whereas Merton's strains were associated more with the types of failures more likely to be experienced by males, Agnew's strains included many types of strains that, at least arguably, could be said to plague females
Deviance Quite often in our day-to-day lives we hear the word "deviance," but never truly know the concepts behind it. It is not a complicated term although it is one with many theories behind it giving a vast variety of interpretations of just what deviance is and is not. Questions arise as to its relativity. Of course, no one can proclaim deviance is not relative, as deviance is behavior that does
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