Social Structure and Anomie 1938 Robert Merton Image

“Social Structure and Anomie” (1938) Robert Merton Image: ‘Terror Europa, ’ by Jozef Danglar Gertli, Slovakia (via truthdig. com, 5/3/12)

“Young people 'feel they have nothing to live for‘” The Prince's Trust Macquarie Youth Index was based on interviews with 2, 161 UK teenagers and young adults aged 16 to 25 (BBC News, 1/1/2014)

American sociology develops into different ‘schools, ’ based on divergent philosophical traditions 1) “Chicago School”: indigenous, American tradition focused on micro -level of society, based in University of Chicago § e. g. , Mead, Goffman 2) “Harvard-Columbia axis”: influenced by European, grand theory, focused on macro-level and middle-range of society § e. g. , Parsons, Merton § Whereas macro theories focus on "big" structures like the economic system, midrange theories examine the "institutional" level of society § Merton’s strain theory is a structural theory, but it refers to "middle-range" of social organization, rather than the macro-level

Aim: to explain nonconformity, deviance § Aim: to explain how some social structures exert pressure upon certain persons to deviate § Like other structural theories, it locates deviance in social structural conditions

Adaptation to anomie (social strain) § Anomie theory locates the cause of deviance in a disjuncture (or mismatch) between culturally prescribed goals (values) and socially structured means (norms) to achieve them § Individuals in such a society must adapt to this mismatch, and some of those adaptations may lead to deviance § Members of social classes or ethnic or racial groups that experience this disjuncture most acutely are more likely to make deviant adaptations

In hyper-competitive American society, the “end justifies the means” § Exaltation of the end generates a literal demoralization § i. e. , people act in ‘immoral’ ways to achieve success § "The 'end-justifies-the-means' doctrine becomes a guiding tenet for action when the cultural structure unduly exalts the end and the social organization unduly limits possible recourse to approved means" § “The extreme emphasis upon the accumulation of wealth as a symbol of success in our own society militates against the completely effective control of institutionally regulated modes of acquiring a fortune. Fraud, corruption, vice, crime, in short, the entire catalog of proscribed behavior, becomes increasingly common when the emphasis on the culturally-induced success-goal becomes divorced from a coordinated institutional emphasis. ” (676)

Modes of adaptation are distinguished by responses to culturally prescribed goals (values) and socially structured means (norms) § Most people conform to goals and means § Conformity: to conform to goals and means, and avoid becoming deviant; this is the most common response to strain in every society § Conformity is a nondeviant adaptation where people continue to engage in legitimate occupational or educational roles despite environmental pressures toward deviant behavior § i. e. , the conformist accepts and strives for the cultural goal of material success (+) by following institutionalized means (+)

Retreatism § Retreatism: to reject goals and means, withdraw emotionally, socially § Retreatism involves complete escape from the pressures and demands of organized society § Merton applies this adaptation to the deviant role “activities of psychotics, autists, pariahs, outcasts, vagrants, vagabonds, tramps, chronic drunkards, and drug addicts” § conceptualization of retreatism is more individualistic than other modes of adaptation § Retreatism is an escape mechanism whereby the individual resolves internal conflict between moral constraints against the use of illegitimate means and repeated failure to attain success through legitimate means § Subsequently, Merton’s conception of retreatism as a private way of dropping out was given a more sociological interpretation by theorists in the subcultural tradition (Coward. 1959; Cloward & Ohlin, 1960)

Ritualism § Ritualism: to conform to society’s norms (means) without any expectation of achieving culturally prescribed goals (values). § “They go through the motions of everyday life and do not feel the need to deviate from social norms. It might never occur to them that they should commit a crime even though they might benefit from it materially” § The ritualist is an overconformist § Pursuit of dominant cultural goal of economic success is rejected or abandoned (-) and compulsive conformity to institutional norms (+) becomes an end in itself § Exemplified by the bureaucratic clerk who, denying aspirations for advancement, becomes preoccupied with ritual of doing it “by the book” § Since the ritualist outwardly conforms to institutional norms, there is good reason to question, as does Merton, “whether this (adaptation) represents genuinely deviant behavior” (1957: 150) § Merton argues that this adaptation is most likely to occur within the lower middle class of American society where socialization practices emphasize strict discipline and rigid conformity to rules

Innovation § Innovation: to strive toward culturally prescribed goals, but by illegitimate (often criminal) means § Innovation involves acceptance of the cultural goal (+) but rejection of legitimate, institutionalized means (-) § the innovator moves into criminal or delinquent roles that employ illegitimate means to obtain economic success § Merton argues that innovation is particularly characteristic of the lower class—the location in the class structure of American society where access to legitimate means is especially limited and the “strain toward anomie” is most severe § Driven by the dominant cultural emphasis on material goals, lowerclass persons use illegitimate but expedient means to overcome these structural blockages § Like Durkheim’s analysis of anomic suicide, Merton arrives at an environmental explanation of an important set of social facts; i. e. , the high rates of lower-class crime and delinquency found in official records

Rebellion § Rebellion refers to the role behavior of political deviants, who attempt to transform the existing structure of society § In later work (1966), Merton uses the term nonconformity to contrast rebellion to other forms of deviant behavior that are “aberrant” § The nonconforming rebel is not secretive as are other, aberrant deviants and is not merely engaging in behavior that violates the institutional norms of society § The rebel publicly acknowledges his or her intention to change those norms and the social structure that they support in the interests of building a better, more just society § Merton implies that rebellion is most characteristic of “members of a rising class” who become inspired by political ideologies that “locate the source of large-scale frustrations in the social structure and portray an alternative structure which would not, presumably, give rise to frustration of the deserving”

Neither lack of opportunity nor exaggerated focus on money alone account for anti-social behavior § “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 for a considerable part of the same population, that antisocial behavior ensues” (680) Lack of opportunity + stress on financial success + egalitarian ideology => anomie

14 Key take-away points 1. 2. 3. 4. Structural strain breeds antisocial behavior Poverty per se does not lead to crime ‘Culture’ not biology accounts for susceptibility to crime Lack of opportunity + stress on financial success + egalitarian ideology anomie