Due to the rise in crime rates in America, Robert Merton developed the Strain theory in the 1940’s. The American cultural system according to Merton, was founded by the American Dream which advocated for equality among all the American citizens regardless of color, social status, and origin. Patchin & Hinduja, (2011) argues the American Dream urged people to chase the success dream which was quantitated concerning affluence acquirement and substantial wealth. The chasing of this dream was expected to be through legal means such as schooling and work. The universal ethnic message was if someone had ambition, was talented and worked hard, they were supposed to gain, income and wealth rewards. This paper aims at discussing the Merton strain theory
America was an extremely uneven and a divided society that encouraged goals that only a number of the inhabitants could achieve. Many working-class men desired to obtain affluence hence the rise in crime rates (Downes et al. 2016). Mertor, therefore, misjudges the degree of waged class crime and undervalues the degree of middle class or professional misconduct.
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Merton argued about the impossibility of everyone achieving the set goal due to the unequal distribution of resources in the USA structural organization (Patchin & Hinduja, 2011). There was also an imbalance between educational and established goals. He argued that such imbalance causes the society to produce anomie, this was the strain or tension between the set goals and ways to deliver unconvinced ambitions. According to Merton, the gap between the set goals which is usually monetary and the present status confronts individuals greatly.
To adapt when confronted by strain, Merton argued that on can confirm, whereby individuals are supposed to chase ethnic goal line through the communally recognized ways. Innovation is also a way of adapting whereby one was to use the communally unaccepted or conservative means to acquire culturally accepted goals (Downes et al. 2016). Ritualism is another way of fighting strain, the communally permitted methods to achieve less vague objectives. Retreatism is also a way of adapting to strain; the individual is supposed to reject the ethnic goals and the means of acquiring it, then discover a way of fleeing it (Patchin & Hinduja, 2011). The final rebellion, whereby one refuses the social goals and methods and then works towards replacing them.
In conclusion, Merton’s strain theory enlightens on the increasing criminality which results from economic growth. Strain theory, therefore, played a huge role in the study of crime and nonconformity in the 1940’s. Most crimes according to the method are committed by the working class who are committed to achieving material success, but their chances are blocked by the limited opportunities and the promotion that exists in the development.
References
Downes, D., Rock, P. E., & McLaughlin, E. (2016). Understanding deviance: a guide to the sociology of crime and rule-breaking . Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Patchin, J. W., & Hinduja, S. (2011). Traditional and nontraditional bullying among youth: A test of general strain theory. Youth & Society , 43(2), 727-751.
