Functionalist - Mertons strain theory - crime and deviance
- Created by: Rebecca-Hall123
- Created on: 08-03-15 14:04
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- Functionalism - Mertons Strain theory
- people engage in deviant behaviour when they are unable to achieve goals legitimately
- Merton adapted Durkheim's concept of anomie - into two elements
- Structural factors
- Societies unequal opportunities structure
- Cultural Fcators
- The strong emphasis on goals, and the weaker emphasis on using legitimate means to achieve them
- Deviance is a result of strain between two things;
- goals that a culture encourages individuals to achieve
- What the institutional structure of society allows them to achieve legitimately
- Structural factors
- The American Dream
- American are expected to pursue this goal by legitimate means
- Reality - Many disadvantaged groups are denied the opportunities achieve gals legitimately
- Resulting in strain between the cultural goal of money and success and the lack of legitimate means leads to frustration
- Reality - Many disadvantaged groups are denied the opportunities achieve gals legitimately
- Merton says the pressure to deviate is further enhanced due to the emphasis put on achieving and being successful
- Deviant Adaptions to Strain
- Conformity
- Individuals accept the culturally approved goals and strive to achieve them legitimately
- Innovation
- Individuals accept the goal of money success but use new legitimate ways to achieve it
- Ritualism
- Individuals give up trying to achieve the goals but have internalised legitimate means.
- Retreatism
- Individuals reject both the goals and the legitimate means and become 'dropouts'
- Rebelion
- Individuals reject social goals and replace them with new ones in a desire to bring back revolutionary change
- Conformity
- Criticisms
- it takes official crime statistics on face value
- Over representing working class crime
- Merton sees crime as a woking class phenomenon
- Too deterministic
- it takes official crime statistics on face value
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