Law and You > Criminal Laws > Criminology > Merton’s Theory of Social Structure and Anomie (Strain Theory)
Social (or human) ecology may be broadly defined as the study of the social and behavioural consequences of the interaction between human beings and their environment. It investigates how exposure to different environments (area- and place-based differential social organization and activities) influences human development and action. The social ecology of crime is the study of one particular behavioural outcome of these processes, the violation of rules of conduct defined in law. It focuses on the role of the environment in the development of people’s differential propensity to engage in crime and their differential exposure to settings conducive to engagement in acts of crime. In this article, we shall discuss Merton’s Theory of Social Structure and Anomie.
Crime causation depends considerably on social interactions. At times persons violate the provisions of law knowing fully well that they will have to face penal consequences for their acts. Sociological theories of criminal behaviour can be explained under three heads:
- Structural Explanations
- Sub-cultural Explanations
- Multiple Factor Approach
Structural Explanations:
Structural explanations of human behaviour argue that an unrestrained freedom of action is an illusion. Human behaviour is neither random nor purely self-determined. There is always a range of constraints, rules, pressures, established beliefs, etc., which force, dispose or propel us to behave in certain ways. Agency-driven explanations, on the other hand, argue that human behaviour is moved by real choices. However constrained an actor might be, there are always options and conscious decisions to be made.
Structural Explanations maintain that criminality is the result of structural defects in the society or family etc. Structural defects here mean the general breakdown of normal social conditions. These explanations emphasize on the existence of fundamental inequality in the structure of the society. Inequalities are experienced in the opportunities to achieve the goals valued by the society. In the society, all people have aspirations or goals to be wealthy, successful, educated, hope to possess material possessions. But not everybody is having the opportunities. Some may have greater abilities to achieve their goals. Some others, who have lesser opportunities and cannot attain their thorough legitimate means, may face a compulsion to rely on illegal means.
Merton’s Theory of Social Structure and Anomie (Strain Theory):
Robert K. Merton (1938) explains this through his popular explanation of ―Social Structure and Anomie. According to Merton, the key to understanding crime is anomie. Anomie is a concept that comes from another sociologist, Emile Durkheim. Anomie means lawless in Greek and generally refers to a state of normlessness and a lack of moral standards among people. Durkheim had studied the French and American culture after the Industrial Revolution. In his study he noted that economic crisis and a general breakdown of the normal social conditions created ‘deregulation’ of social and moral rules. This deregulation which he called ‘anomie’ could lead to all sorts of social deviance including suicide and crime.
Merton argued, that not everyone has the same chance of reaching the kind of success. For example, not everyone has a good education or has the social contacts that one needs to get a good job. But they still want to reach their goal of material and financial success. And so what happens is that those people who cannot reach their goal through legal and legitimate means will use illegal means. And that is what anomie is.
Merton explains that society establishes institutionalized goals – usually understood to be financial success which society emphasizes and reinforces. To achieve these goals there are ‘socially structured methods’ which can be called ‘means’. When such goals are over emphasized and highly praised but the ‘means’ to achieve them are unavailable to a considerable part of that population then anomie is likely i.e. when success is blocked by the unavailability of ‘means’ individuals experience strain and show two kinds of reactions, either they must adjust their aspirations downward or devise alternative routes to achieve goals. In such an environment deviant behaviour is wide spread. Thus, people experience intense pressure to achieve the societal goal of success, but they do not have the means, which then puts strain on them. Hence this theory is also known as ‘strain theory’. There is a gap between the middle class goals of society and the chances that people have to achieve them. This is when crime can happen, because some people will try to achieve success through criminal behaviour.
According to Merton, five modes are adopted by the people to achieve goals:
- Conformity,
- Innovation,
- Ritualism,
- Retreatism, and
- Rebellion.
Conformity:
It is a path taken by most people, even if they realize that the means to achieve their goals are restricted. In every society, conformity to both culture goals and means is the most common and widely diffused. When there is no gap between the cultural goal and the means to achieve it, so when all people have the same chance to achieve success, then one would expect conformity. But when that gap between goal and means exists, Merton argues that people will resort to one of the four strategies explained below.
Innovation:
People who use the strategy of innovation endorse the cultural goal of achieving financial and material success. Innovation is where a person accepts a goal but rejects the accepted, legitimate means to achieve the goal. However, they do not have access to the conventional ways of achieving success. This applies primarily to people who are in lower social classes. They do not have the money or the education to put them on a pathway toward success. And so one strategy they can use to still achieve wealth and success is through crime.
For example, a child wants a Bicycle, the legitimate means are to ask parents or grand-parents or save money by doing a part time job etc. If all these means are not available an alternative, innovative means may be chosen such as ‘theft’.
Ritualism:
The second adaptation to strain is ritualism. Ritualists are people who have given up on the goals of society, but still stick to the conventional way to achieve the goals, even if the goals themselves are out of reach. This may describe the so called rat- race, in which people work diligently in socially approved ways but have no hope of success in achieving their goals, or no longer identify with long term goals. For example, many people are stuck in dead-end jobs, can barely pay the bills, are not getting promoted, and may realize that they will never achieve the kind of success that society may expect of them. So they give up on the dream but still stick with their job to make it through another day.
Retreatism:
The third adaptation is retreatism. Retreatists have abandoned both the cultural goals and the conventional means to achieve the goals. Thus, in Retreatism, both goals and means are rejected. Merton described them as “psychotics, psychoneurotics, chronic autists, pariahs, outcasts, vagrants, vagabonds, tramps, chronic drunkards, and drug addicts”. They withdraw from society. The retreatist‘s response to an inability to reach goals is to drop out, or to quit trying. This may lead to extreme retreatist behaviour such as alcoholism, drug addiction or vagrancy.
Rebellion:
Rebellion is an option for people who reject the approved goals and means to achieve them for new goals and means. They do not give up like the retreatists—instead, they want to change the system; change the goals and the means. Rebels and revolutionaries are disappointed individuals who view accepted goals as unattainable or undesirable and socially approved means of reaching them as demeaning or unworkable. Generally, these persons substitute new, socially unacceptable goals and means, such as redistribution of wealth through socialist political structure. Thus, they want to change both the game and the rules. They become political activists who want to facilitate equality, or they become hippies who live in a commune, or they become terrorists who commit acts of terrorism.
Criticism to Merton’s Theory of Social Structure and Anomie:
Merton’s Theory of Social Structure and Anomie has some criticism:
Some criticisms of Merton’s anomie/strain theory concern its narrow focus. The theory explains mainly financial crimes, and mainly crimes by members of lower socio-economic classes.
The theory ignores differences between people. In other words, it does not explain why some people respond to strain in one way and others in another way. Why do some people start to commit crime (the innovators), whereas others continue their dead-end jobs (namely the ritualists), and still others become hippies (the rebels)? The theory does not offer clear answers to this question.
Other critics question whether a heterogeneous society does have goals on which everyone agrees. Some theorists argue that some subcultures have their own value systems. If this is the case, we cannot account for deviant behavior on the basis of Merton‘s cultural goals.
Despite the many critical assessments, strain theory, as represented by Merton‘s formulation of anomie, has had a major impact on the contemporary criminology.
Conclusion:
According to Durkheim anomie is a temporary feature which emerges in course of society’s development but for Merton anomie is a permanent feature of all modern industrial societies. Durkheim said anomie only endemic in industrial societies which develops due to economic crises or burgeoning industrialism. Despite some criticisms, Merton’s theory helps us understand how the cultural background of a society can help explain deviant behaviour. His theory looks beyond offenders’ psychological and biological background and instead focuses on the nature of society itself. It points to the strain that people experience when they don’t have the means to achieve the success that is expected of them, which may in turn become a motivation to commit crime.