Robert K
Robert K. Merton
“Strain Theory”
Individual Level
Gap between economic aspirations (which all are encouraged to pursue) and structural reality (limited opportunity)
Policy Implications?
Increase opportunity for lower class youth
“Mobilization for Youth” Program
MERTON II
Culture
THE “American Dream” mentality
Social Structure
Unequal distribution of means for achieving the “American Dream”
Problems?
Preoccupied with Lower Class
Addresses only “Economic Crimes”
Everyone focused on the MICRO level theory
Messner and Rosenfeld (1995)
CRIME AND THE AMERICAN DREAM
“The Road not Taken”
Focus on Anomie at Macro level
Why is U.S. so crime-prone?
Culture = American Dream
Social Structure = more than $
The Culture: Elements of the
“American Dream”
Achievement
Individualism
Universalism
The “fetishism” of money
These elements encourage “Anomic conditions”
THE AMERICAN DREAM PRODUCES ANOMIE
MERTON: Pursuit of financial success is “limited only by considerations of technical expediency.”
Lombardi: Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.
Social Structure More than Distribution of Wealth
Social institutions as the building blocks of society (make up social structure).
Functions?
Allow us to adapt to the environment
Mobilize and deploy resources to achieve collective goals
Socialize members to accept society’s normative patterns
Institutions in U.S.?
The Economy
The Polity
The Family
Education
Key Issue for M & R
These institutions sometimes have conflicting goals and values.
All societies can therefore be characterized by their distinctive arrangements of institutions
The U.S.? Economy Dominates: we are a “MARKET SOCIETY”
The “Market Society” as a play on words
A capitalist economy is referred to as a free market or “market” economy.
The term “market society” suggests that the entire society is dominated by the free market economy.
Indicators of “Economic Dominance” or a “Market Society”
Devaluation of non-economic institutional functions and roles
Accommodation to economic requirements by other social institutions
Penetration of economic norms into other social domains
Implications of Economic Dominance
Weak institutional controls
Family and School are handicapped in efforts to promote allegiance to social rules
Single parent families
Poorly funded schools
“Weak institutions invite challenge”
Culture, Social Structure, and Crime Rates
Empirical Validity of IA theory
New theory--only 2 good tests thus far
Both support IA, but have limitations
Chamlin and Cochran
State level variations in non-economic institutions modify the effect of poverty on economic crimes
Messner and Roesnfeld
The “decommodification index” across countries predicts homicide rates
Policy Implications of IA
The two main causes of crime are:
American Dream ethos (cultural)
Economic Dominance of other institutions (structural)
Change “money fetish?”
Time for America to “grow up”
Strengthen non-economic institutions?
Family, School...
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