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Robert Merton strongly believes that the problem of deviants is created by a social structure that presents the same goals to all its members without giving them equal access to achieve them. According to Merton it is this lack of integration between what the culture expects and what the structure permits that causes deviant behaviour (Robert Merton Website). Merton points out that there are particular goals which are strongly emphasised by society. Society puts a strong emphasis on the correct means in which to reach those goals (such as education, hard work etc, . ). However not everyone has equal access to the legitimate means to attain those goals. The " Social structure' of American society limits the ability of certain groups to satisfy those appetites.
The result is 'a definite pressure on certain persons in the society to engage in nonconformist rather than conformist conduct'. Merton points out that the culture of any society defines certain goals it deem 'worth striving for'. The most important aspiration in American society, is to obtain wealth. Accumulated wealth is generally equated with personal value and worth is associated with a high degree of prestige and social status (Criminological theories p 135 - 136).
Merton argues that American culture specifically encourages all individuals to achieve the greatest amount of wealth. American culture is based on an egalitarian ideology that declares that all people have an equal chance to obtain wealth. Although all individuals are not expected to achieve this goal, all are expected to try. Those who do not may be unfavourably characterized as 'lazy' or 'unambitious' (Criminological theories p 136). Cultures also state the appropriate norms, or institutionalised means, all individuals are expected to obey in pursuing the culture goals. These means are based on the values of society.
The preferred institutionalised means that should be used to achieve wealth include hard work, honesty, education, and deferred gratification. Merton argued that because all persons cannot be expected to achieve the goals of the culture, it is very important that the culture place a strong emphasis on the institutionalised means and the necessity of following them for their own value. However, for particular groups a severe strain on the cultural values arises because (1) the culture places a disproportionate emphasis on the achievement of the goal of accumulated wealth and maintain that this goal is applicable to all persons, and (2) the social structure effectively limits the possibilities of individuals within these groups to achieve this goal through the use of institutionalised means (Criminological theories p 137). This conflict between the culture and the social structure of society is what Merton refers to as anomie The theory of anomie states that varying rates of particular kinds of deviant behaviour result from socially patterned discrepancies between culturally induced aspirations and differentials in access to the opportunity structure for moving toward those aspirations by use of legitimate means (Deviance Conflict and Criminology p 50). Merton presents five modes of responding to anomie. Conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion.
He did not mean that people who were denied access to society's goals became deviant. Rather the response or modes of adaptation, depend on the individual's attitude toward cultural goals and the institutionalised means to attain them (Robert Merton Website). Conformity is the most conventional form of adaptation. Most people in society choose conformity, which involves acceptance of both the cultural goals and the traditional means. These persons attempt to achieve wealth through the appropriate practice of middle class values and will continue to do so whether they succeed or not (Criminological theories p 138). Individuals who adapt through innovation accept societal goals but have few legitimate means to achieve those goals, they thus innovate their own means to acquire wealth (Robert Merton Website) A majority of crime that exists in society takes the form of innovation.
Persons who innovate maintain their loyalty to the culture goal of acquiring wealth, but they realise that they cannot succeed at this through traditional means. Therefore they reinvent new ways to obtain wealth. The means to get ahead may be through robbery, embezzlement or other such criminal acts. In ritualism, the third adaptation, individuals abandon the goals they once believed to be within their reach and dedicate themselves to current lifestyle. Retreatism is the adaptation of those who give up not only the goals but also the means. Retreatism- involves simply dropping out of the whole game.
Dropouts neither pursue the cultural goals nor act according to the established methods. Those who choose this adaptation include ' psychotics, outcasts, vagrants, chronic drunkards and drug addicts' (Criminological Theories p 139). Merton points out that this adaptation does not necessarily arise from the lack of commitment to the culture. It can also occur when there is a strong commitment to both the goals and the means, but no real opportunity of achieving success. In relation to homosexuality individuals escape from their dilemma by rejecting both the goals and means by embarking upon a completely different lifestyle. Homosexuality is seen as a deviant behaviour that threatens the overall stability of society.
The conventional role of behaviour is oriented toward the basic values of society which is the rule rather than the expectation (Robert Merton 'Social structure and anomie, Reading A 4). In the case of homosexuality frustration often stems from the inaccessibility of effective institutional means for attaining any type of highly valued success (Innovation, Ritualism and rebellion are all possible). However, how a person responds to this situation are determined by the particular personality and particular cultural backgrounds of the individual. Retreatism is held to be the least common response and those individuals who choose it virtually move outside the society. Such individuals are often popularly regarded as the classic 'deviants'.
They have come to reject both the social goals and socially accepted means to achieve them. Merton theorise's that this response occurs when individuals have espoused both goals and institutional means and have failed to achieve the requisite 'success'. These 'aliens' have probably been unable to succeed even by using illegitimate means. Defeated, their only option to escape from their dilemmas is to reject both goals and means as irrelevant and to embark upon a completely different lifestyle. They often retreat into the world of alcoholism and drug addiction. They escape into a non-productive, non-striving lifestyle.
Structural Functionalists, like Merton have interpreted the excessive drinking by Aboriginal people as a social problem stemming from problems of modernisation, i. e. difficulties experienced in the transition from 'traditional' to 'modern society' (Robert Merton, Social Structure and anomie). According to the structural functionalists the problem of alcohol arises as these minority groups are challenged by a more complicated and differential...
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