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Robert Merton used the term of anomie, develop by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim in 1951 to explain organized crime. Anomie is refer to a state of normlessness which could be the result of dramatic change such as an economic depression. According to Robert’s theory organized crime is a normal response to the pressure that society put on an individual. As the French visitor Alexis de Tocqueville debates, Americans pursue prosperity but many debate whether or not they took the shortest route to the goal. And according to Merton, for Americans, the goal is emphasized not the mean that is why the doctrine that says the the-end-justifies-the-means is used by many people when they are about to do an illicit act because for many the goal is
Strain theory suggests that crime is a result of people’s goals and the means available to achieve them. Nino Brown’s ultimate goal is to obtain the American Dream which means having a lot of money. It is implied in his criminal behavior that he does not view the legitimate means as a way of achieving that goal. As a man who is undereducated and Black, the normal means of achieving the American Dream are pail in comparison to the illegal means. In fact, he sees the illegal means as more effective; this is the Anomie. The Anomie theory holds that socially defined goals are mandated, but the means to achieve them are stratified by class and society. The Cash Money Brothers program The Carter is built on a culture of poverty that has developed abnormally as a result of crack cocaine, and crime becomes the answer as a result of a breakdown in family, school, and employment. The Social Disorganization theory, in New Jack City, would mean that the criminal behavior demonstrated by the Cash Money Brothers is direct result of a serious degradation in the quality of capable guardians, the school system, and the absence of legitimate jobs stemming from Raegonomics. Therefore, the drive for material wealth dominates and undermines social and community values, thereby, providing room for criminal behavior to become more appealing and effective
Robert Merton’s Theory of Anomie It is rightfully argued that crime, whether or not in a contemporary society, is an extremely complex and multi-faceted Phenomena that has puzzled academics for many years. Theories that aim to rationalise the causes of crime and understand the origin of criminal behaviour are often criticised for being too biased or deterministic in their research studies. Many have been of great influence and seen to explain (to an extent) the cause of crime but none has fully decoded the mystery of why people commit crime. Merton’s anomie theory aimed at explaining deviance from a sociological perspective as opposed to previous academic theories on crime and criminals.
As the act of criminality is a global phenomenon, there must therefore be some explanation as to why this is; some schools of thought strive to explicate this by means of genetics, whilst others take a more socially influenced approach. Although at the time, the micro-criminological theories of Lombroso and Sheldon may have appeared credible, modern research has attempted to refute such notions. In an epidemiological context, the act of crime is seen by some as a positive contribution to society, as noted by Durkheim (Kirby et al, 2000), although too much will lead to social instability, or anomie. In contrariety to Durkheim's beliefs, a Marxist perspective would consider the mere notion of capitalism as criminal; thus deeming the vast majority of global society to be in a constant state of anomie. However, there is still much dispute as to whether people are born, or made into criminals. This essay will discuss the arguments within this debate. To be ‘born’ criminal indicates a genetic heredity whereas if one is ‘made’; the environmental influences are the significant factor in creation of criminal behaviour.
Williams, Frank P. and Marilyn D. McShane, Criminal Theory: Selected Classic Readings. 2nd ed. Cincinnati, Ohio: Anderson Publishing Company, 1998.
This can be applied to American society, where the society may lean too heavily towards either of these social structures. This can then create stress where stressing over goals mean that any form of achieving them becomes acceptable. Merton was more interested on the overemphasis on goals and how that may have generated antisocial behavior. This behavior arises when the expectation that all members of society should exhibit success but run into restrictions on legitimate means to succeed. He says that the cult of success can create illegitimate means because the violator knows the rules of the game, but the validation of success outweighs the weak imperative to play by the rules. He states, “…Crime… [And] the entire catalogue of proscribed behavior, becomes increasingly common when the emphasis on the culturally induced success-goal becomes divorced from a coordinated institutional emphasis” (Merton 675-676). This is shown in the Crips and Bloods documentary because the individuals in both gangs know what they do is wrong, such as dealing drugs, but they still need to be successful by having money and having good appearance by dressing nicely. It is difficult for them to go by the rules when at one point, the whites did not give them
In our modern societies we are surrounded by a lot of social phenomena that are not specified for one person but for the whole society. Some of these phenomena carry a lot of dangers problems that threaten the society and the individuals. People are not aware about these social changes that are happening in our world and how are they affected us, however, sociologists do. Emile Durkheim one of the important sociologists, introduced the term anomie in 1897 . Anomie means a condition in which society provides little moral guidance to individuals.
Crime exists everywhere. It is exists in our country, in the big cities, the small towns, schools, and even in homes. Crime is defined as “any action that is a violation of law”. These violations may be pending, but in order to at least lower the crime rate, an understanding of why the crimes are committed must first be sought. There are many theories that are able to explain crimes, but three very important ones are rational choice theory, social disorganization theory and strain theory.
This study sets apart from others because the sole purpose of this study is to falsify Merton’s Macro-level anomie theory of crime. Similar to other studies, Chamlin and Sanders also use a sample of 43 national-states that participated in EVS (European Values Study) (2013). They sample nation-states because it recognizes variations in the acceptance of values relating to material success are most likely to occur at the societal level of spatial aggregation (Chamlin & Sanders, 2013). Showing how cultural success or goals occur within all of society. In this study the researchers also gather data from UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime), they ask interviewees questions about acceptance of material success goals, blocked opportunities, they do this to measure how people are gaining success and how others are not doing such a thing (Chamlin & Sanders, 2013). Differing from the first two studies analyzed, this one seems to be much smaller sample size, using less data, and a less sophisticated approach. Their methodology and operationalization was not as concise as the other
To commit a crime or not to commit crime, a question that seems self-explanatory but is an ongoing struggle that appears in all societies. Sociologists look to explain this crime and deviance and have developed many theories as an explanation. The anomie theory was developed to explain crime and deviant behaviour in America, and the relationship between crime and social structure. Robert Merton was the leading sociologist in the development of the anomie theory and said crime occurred because there is a disjunction between society’s culturally set goals of success and the legitimate means of obtaining those goals. However, the legitimate means to obtain cultural success are not equal to everyone with emphasis on the inequality of ethnic and
Positivists focus on the causes of deviance and seek ways to detect it before any deviant behaviors occurs and possibly stop them. In their search for causes of deviant behavior, positivists focus primarily on biological and psychological factors. One of the leading theories supporting Positivism is the Anomie-Strain theory. Anomie-Strain theory is a theory by Robert Merton that focuses on finding the causes of deviant behavior. It states that people commit deviant behaviors when they are strained into “anomie”. Anomie is a term coined by Merton that refers to the absence of social norm held in place by society, which he says is the failure of society to control its members. Merton states that when a person is in “anomie’, they are more likely to engage in deviant behavior as they no long have any moral compass because the norms of society are no longer in place. According to Merton, the primary way people fall into anomie occurs because of the goal-means gap. The goal-means gap is the idea that the goals a person sets for themselves are unattainable due to the lack of a means to achieve them. Merton says that society encourages individuals to engage in deviant activates in order to achieve their goals. Using Merton’s ideas as a spring board, Albert Cohen proposed his own Anomie-Strain theory. Cohen says in his theory that people descend into anomie because of ‘status frustration’. Status frustration is the feeling that a person feels when they cannot achieve their goals through legitimate means due to lack of opportunity provided to them because of the goal-means
Murphy, D., & Robinson, M. (2008). The maximizer: clarifying Merton’s theories of anomie and strain. Theoretical Criminology, 12(4), 501-521.
By definition, anomie is defined as the lack of social regulations within a society that upholds deviant behavior (Akers and Sellers, 174). According to Cloward and Ohlin, delinquency occurs because individuals are presented with the opportunity to do so. However, the strain theory is defined as the result of the lack of social regulations. Strain theory refers to the pressure that delinquent groups are faced with when it comes to taking advantage to the opportunities around them (Akers and Sellers, 175). The opportunities that are often discussed and associated with strain theory are the different types of crimes that an individual is presented with so that he or she can achieve some sort of income. The opportunities are either legal or illegal (Akers and Sellers,
Durkheim’s and Merton’s use of the term anomie differed in one fundamental way; while Durkheim viewed anomie as the lack of rules to restrain society, Merton viewed anomie as the overregulation inhibiting attainment of culturally accepted goals. These differences stemmed from their different contexts and views on the use of the criminal. However, through the medium of anomie theory, both sociologists have attempted to explain crime through using the social structure of a society. Overall, anomie theory is successful in describing many middle class crimes but fails to explain why senseless crimes occur and why some people undertake crime whilst others
Meyer Schkolnick was an American Sociologist born July 4, 1910 in the slums of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He eventually changed his name to Robert Merton for the sake of having a more “Americanized” name (Nakamura, 2015). Merton is most regarded for his anomic strain theory, which is an adaptation of Durkheim’s anomie. According to Merton, “It is only when a system of cultural values extols, virtually above all else, certain common symbols of success for the population at large while its social structure rigorously restricts or completely eliminates access to approved modes of acquiring these symbols.that antisocial behavior ensues on a considerable scale” (Merton, 1938). In other words, Merton believed that crime was a result of society having these symbols of success or belief in the American Dream.
Emile Durkheim was a French sociologist that first familiarized the concept of anomie in his book, which was published in 1893 (Criminology.fsu.edu, 2014). He used this concept to help understand the condition of deregulation t...