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Merton’s Strain Theory of Anomie and Deviance. Robert K. Merton (1938, 1957) extended the theory of anomie to the United States and argued that anomie is not simply about unregulated goals but a broken relationship between cultural goals and legitimate means of accessing them.
Merton's Strain Theory posits that the cultural emphasis on wealth attainment in the American Dream creates strain for lower class individuals who lack legitimate means to get ahead, which can lead to deviant behavior as they pursue success through crime.
Merton’s theory builds on Emile Durkheim’s concept of anomie, a state of normlessness that arises in times of social upheaval or change. In Merton’s view, anomie is a disjunction between culturally prescribed aspirations (such as the American Dream) and the socially structured means to achieve these aspirations.
ROBERT K. MERTON. Harvard University. T HERE persists a notable tendency in sociological theory to attribute the malfunctioning of social structure primarily to those of man's imperious biological drives which are not adequately restrained by social control.
Merton outlines his anomie theory and discusses how it can explain variation in levels of deviance between and within societies. Essential reading for serious students of anomie theory. Suitable for graduate students and advanced undergraduates.
Robert Merton's (1957) theories of anomie and strain are among the most widely examined theories of criminality. Messner and Rosenfeld's (1994) theory of institutional anomie built on Merton's conception of anomie, delineating how specific institutions lead to conditions of anomie and criminality.
Merton introduced his initial formulation of the anomie perspective in a brief article titled “Social Structure and Anomie,” which was published in the American Sociological Review in 1938.
This chapter will seek to clarify the theoretical objectives and scope of Merton's work on anomie and strain as a sociology of deviant behavior, and analyze some of its pathways and...
According to Merton, the key to understanding crime is anomie. Anomie is a concept that comes from another sociologist, Emile Durkheim, whom you may also know. Anomie means lawless in Greek and generally refers to a state of normlessness and a lack of moral standards among people.
Originating in the tradition of classical sociology (Durkheim, Merton), anomie theory posits how broad social conditions influence deviant behavior and crime.