Merton's strain theory


	Merton's strain theory
	Advantages Explains how normal and deviant individuals can arise even whilst sharing the same goals (conformity and innovation) Explains how individuals adapt to social strain Explains the reasons for crime and deviance as a result of social strain Explains why working class crime rates may be higher Explains how different individuals of different positions in the social structure resort to different adaptations.	Disadvantages Explains only utilitarian crime, ignoring reasons for non utilitarian crime Takes an individualistic approach, ignoring group crime Too deterministic; not all working class individuals resort to crime Ignores ruling class power to create and enforce laws to prevent the deviant adaptations (innovations,ritualism,retreatism and rebellion) Takes official statistics at face value. Labelling theorists such as Cicourel argue that official crime statistics should not be used as a resource (source of facts) but investigated as a topic, because they can be unreliable. Police use the typification of the 'typical delinquent' to make arrests, and working class people are more likely to fit the typification with ethnicity, clothing, manner, time and place. Therefore police will patrol working class areas more often resulting in more w/c arrests, whilst in reality this may not be truly representative.
	Evaluation

Explains how normal and deviant individuals can arise even whilst sharing the same goals (conformity and innovation)
Explains how individuals adapt to social strain
Explains the reasons for crime and deviance as a result of social strain
Explains why working class crime rates may be higher
Explains how different individuals of different positions in the social structure resort to different adaptations.

Explains only utilitarian crime, ignoring reasons for non utilitarian crime
Takes an individualistic approach, ignoring group crime
Too deterministic; not all working class individuals resort to crime
Ignores ruling class power to create and enforce laws to prevent the deviant adaptations (innovations,ritualism,retreatism and rebellion)
Takes official statistics at face value. Labelling theorists such as Cicourel argue that official crime statistics should not be used as a resource (source of facts) but investigated as a topic, because they can be unreliable. Police use the typification of the 'typical delinquent' to make arrests, and working class people are more likely to fit the typification with ethnicity, clothing, manner, time and place. Therefore police will patrol working class areas more often resulting in more w/c arrests, whilst in reality this may not be truly representative.