An Explanation Of Robert Merton's Anomic Strain Theory

Anomic Strain Theory Meyer Schkolnick was an American Sociologist born July 4th, 1910 in the slums of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He eventually changed his name to Robert Merton for the sake of having a more “Americanized” name. 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. Merton came up with a concept called the 5 modes of adaptation, which described the topology of individuals as Conformist, Innovator, Ritualism, Retreatism, and Rebellion how they adapt to society goals and their ways of reaching goals. Merton was particularly concerned with Innovators, or those who believe in the American Dream but have limited access to institutionalized means of reaching those goals, and as a result

The purpose of this experiment was to test whether strain is gender specific. Merton did not specify whether gender mattered in his theory and it was perceived that male and female delinquency was uniform. Furthermore, few studies have tested strain theory in a comparison of gender, and those studies only tested on one variable (Cernkovich & Giordano, 1979; Datesman et al., 1975; Leiber et al., 1994; Segrave & Hastad, 1985; Simons et al., 1980; Simpson & Elis, 1995; Smith, 1979; Smith & Paternoster,