1. Immediate activity No notes, no text books, no discussion
Write down five words to summarise the Durkheim’s Functionalist theory of crime.

2. Learning goals: TO UNDERSTAND MERTON’S STRAIN THEORY
Describe the basic principles of Merton’s strain theory. Identify Merton’s five types of adaptions in an example. Effectively evaluate Merton’s strain theory.
Learning Goals

4. Merton’s Strain Theory
Merton argues that deviance is a result of strain between two things:
The goals that a culture encourages individuals to achieve.
What society allows them to achieve legitimately.
In an unequal society, not everyone is given the same opportunities for achieving these goals.
Because of these inequalities, people may choose to achieve these shared societal goals in deviant ways.

5. Mindmap
create a mindmap of any factors or ‘barriers’ that people may experience that may prevent them of achieving cultural goals (ie. Money, success, careers)

6. Example: The American Dream
The ‘American dream’ is a cultural goal of money, success and happiness.
Americans are expected to pursue this goal by legitimate means: self discipline, study, educational qualifications, and hard work in a career.
The ideology of the ‘American Dream’ tells Americans that their society is a meritocratic* one where anyone who makes the effort can get ahead – there are opportunities for all.
Develop Understanding
*a social system that gives the greatest power and highest social positions to people with the most ability

7. Goal, means and the gap in between
The resulting strain between the cultural goal of money and success and the lack of legitimate opportunities to achieve it produces frustration, and this in turn creates a pressure to resort to illegitimate means.
Winning the game becomes more important than playing by the rules
Build

8. In a nutshell….
Build
To summarise: the goal creates a desire to succeed, and lack of opportunity creates a pressure to adopt illegitimate means, while the norms are not strong enough to prevent some from succumbing to this temptation
People turn to crime and deviance when they don’t have the opportunities to achieve success in legitimate ways.

9. Merton’s 5 types of Adaption to Strain
Merton uses his strain theory to explain some of the patterns of crime and deviance in society. He argues that an individuals position in social structure affects the way they respond to the strain.
Merton proposes 5 different types of adaption, which depends on whether the individuals accepts or rejects societies goals, and the means of achieving them.
Build

10. Develop Understanding
Type of Adaption
Do they accept society’s goals?
Do they accept their means of achieving them?
Example
Conformity
YES
The non criminal, non deviant citizen.
Innovation NO
Factors like unemployment, poor education mean these people don’t have the means to achieve goals so turn to crime.
Ritualism
People who have given up on achieving their goals, but stick to the means. E.g an employee who has given up hope of promotion, and just work to ‘get by’.
Retreatism
People who have given up all together, e.g drug addicts, drop outs.
Rebellion
YES/NO
Individuals reject existing goals and replace them with new ones in desire to bring about a revolutionary change
Develop Understanding

11. Quick Questions
Which of Merton’s types of adaption do these illustrate?
Someone who drops out of conventional society
The man who works to support his family and chases promotion so he can buy a bigger house
A woman in a low paid job who wants a good standard of living, so she turns to fraud.
2. Which two types are missing? Give an example of each.

12. EVALUATIONS OF MERTON’S STRAIN THEORY
Develop Understanding
STRENGTHS
This theory explains how both normal and deviant behaviour can occur from shared mainstream goals.
Most crime is property crime, because western societies value material wealth so highly.
Lower class crime rates are higher, because they have least opportunity to gain wealth legitimately.
WEAKNESSES
It takes working class crime at face value.
Marxists argues that it ignores the power of the ruling class in ‘deciding’ the laws which incriminate the poor.
It assumes there is a value concensus – that everyone strives for ‘money success’.
It only accounts for crime for utilitarian gain, and not for non-utilitarian crimes such as assault or joy riding
It only explains crime and deviance at an individual level, and not group crime.

13. RESEARCH SUPPORT FOR STRAIN THEORY
Downes & Hansen (2006) did a survey of crime rates and welfare spending in 18 countries. They found that: societies who spent more on welfare had lower rates of imprisonment. This shows that societies who support and protect the poor have less crime.
Develop Understanding

14. Plenary: Quick-Check Questions:
Explain the difference between goals and means.
Explain the difference between ritualism and retreatism.
What is meant by non-utilitarian crime?
Short term Retrieval