Robert Merton's Strain Theory

Robert Merton’s model of strain and anomie has been at the forefront of much criminological research of explaining the roots of social deviancy. However it has expanded by many theorists and despite that many agreed with Merton’s views, they all noted that his work was somewhat lacking in explanation and limited in terms of empirical corroboration. The two Predecessors Durkheim and Merton’s work on strain should not be completely discredited, as in the particular time frame in which they were writing; they set the foundations of Strain and Anomie as valid explanations of crime. Many other researchers have extended and critiqued his work and Merton himself, highlights some of his weaknesses. I am going to examine some of these criticisms of …show more content…
If one does not succeed in achieving these goals of wealth and material success, they were deemed inherently inept. Happiness is strongly linked to achieving these goals and education and hard work is usually only attainable by those of a privileged wealthy background. Therefore, one can see how the lower classes can feel the pressures as Merton argued that those lower on the socio-economic ladder had fewer legitimate opportunities to obtain wealth and affluence and therefore may be subject to strain or anomie potentially resulting in criminal behaviour to ‘succeed’ in accordance with …show more content…
Messner and Rosenfield ‘Institutional strain theory’ are similar to Merton in the fact that they agreed that the extreme pressures and emphasis on material success could perpetuate a condition of anomie and thus increase levels of crime. However, they argue that even if there was less emphasis on monetary material success, it would not result in lower levels of crime because they suggested that this ideology is embedded so deeply within all non-economic institutions and therefore will never go unchallenged despite increasing the equality of opportunity (Messner and Rosenfield, 2001). Therefore Merton’s theory of strain is incomplete as he failed to recognise that this American culture pressure is primarily sustained, protected and promoted by education, family, religion and political structures heightening the levels of anomie therefore structures cannot reduce crime that much and therefore potentially increases levels of criminal

Show More