Term Paper on "Merton's Theory"

Term Paper 5 pages (1683 words) Sources: 3

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Merton

Social Structure and Anomie

According to the philosopher Thomas Hobbes, without social controls, because of humanity's biological impulses, life would be nasty, brutish and short. "In this view, the social order is solely a device of impulse management and the social processing of tensions" (Merton 1938:214).Although we as a society now reject Hobbes' mode of governance, many theorists of crime seem to adopt a similar line of analysis. They see crime as a product of the individual rather than society, and crime as having biological rather than sociological origins. However, Robert K. Merton's theories of social controls and anomie give a persuasive example of how there is considerable evidence that some social structures exert a definite pressure upon certain persons in the society to engage in nonconformist rather than conformist conduct (Merton 1938:214).

Those who doubt the truth of this statement need look no farther than a college campus to see it in action. College students who might never have drank before attending school, or perhaps only had a glass of wine in private at family dinners and functions may feel pressured to drink to fit into the dominant social milieu. These students may not even enjoy drinking, and very likely know the logical consequences of drinking to excess, including sickness, the dangers of alcoholism, failing grades, and even overdosing. There is also the chance of engaging in foolish and regrettable behavior, and even putting one's self at risk for sexually transmitted diseases.

The students have been made aware of the fact, by the school's administration, that it is illegal to drink until they are over the age of 21, and that alcohol is not permitted on campus. The students may have promised their parents, in all sincerity not the drink. But a desire to fit in, the perception that everyone their age is 'doing it,' and the social pressures to drink as a way of having fun, may motivate a student to get drunk, even if he or she would never think of doing so in another social context.

All cultures have certain "goals, purposes," and "defined interests," including contemporary American culture (Merton 1938:214). Getting a good job is one example of a goal commonly shared by many young people at college in America. Although there may be immediate social pressures to drink, college students may inhibit their tendencies to engage in excessive nonconformist behavior regarding alcohol, for fear of doing poorly in school and losing their opportunity to be socially mobile later in life as adults. Students going to college by and large very likely buy into the general goal of upward mobility in American society, and agree that the purpose of life is advancement, which enacts as a mechanism of control upon the individual and advances the collective societal need for cohesion and stability.

A student who indulges to excess will lose his position in the college community, if he or she 'flunks out.' A little bit of nonconformity may be encouraged, in other words, but most students must buy into the stated purpose of the school as a place of social advancement, otherwise the school could not educate its students. Students who do not fail, but drink excessively, and gain only a marginal measure of success in school may be tolerated socially, and looked upon as fun in a humorous fashion, but not really respected, especially after everyone graduates. If respect for learning or at least professional preparation was not the dominant modality of the school it would close down, or drive students away (or parents paying tuition away) as graduates failed to get jobs, students failed to graduate, and the school gained a reputation as a place to party, rather than a place to study. Only students who feel that they cannot academically and professionally succeed, or do not desire to, for psychological reasons, will fall between the gaps. "In times of stress, undergraduates with ineffective coping strategies may ingest more alcohol than students with a more effective coping repertoire," even though the culture of drinking may encourage all students to illegally consume alcohol, and to consume more alcohol than they might under other circumstances (Dreer et al. 2004:1)

Merton's idea of anomie, or social estrangement and psychological dissatisfaction with the self that is then projected onto society, also explains why some students develop less effective coping mechanism, socially and psychologically, and feel driven to drink. Although the general subcultural social pressure may stress that students 'should' or 'must' drink, and drink to excess, but not to the point that it negates their future aspirations, students that feel disempowered, and entirely shut out of the college community for various reasons (psychological temperament, struggling academics, difficulties with friends and family, etc.) may become more deeply involved in nonconformist behaviors like drinking.

All societies exist in a state of tension between stability and transgression. The society defines cultural aspirations that govern group living, and defines "acceptable modes of achieving these goals" (Merton 1938:214). In most of American society, becoming a criminal is not considered an acceptable means of social mobility, although it can gain an individual economic standing. Alcohol is tacitly endorsed as a social pleasure, but when it becomes a social vice, or when young people binge drink, it is considered nonconformist, in Merton's terms, and illegal.

In some environments, however, whether it be an inner-city ghetto where drug dealing is seen as the only method of achieving success and financial stability, or a white-collar firm where corruption, creative accounting, and insider trading are seen as a necessary way of making a profit, the methods approved of by the subculture may endorse different modes of achieving cultural aims, that are not endorsed by the larger culture. These two hypothetical environments (although with all-too-real parallels, such as the inner cities of the 1980s during the crack epidemic, or the culture of corruption at Enron) are also excellent examples of how cultural goals and institutional norms can conflict. "Strain theories, such as Merton's (1938), contend that crime results when people are unable to achieve their goals through legitimate means," particularly when these goals are championed by the greater culture, but no perceived avenues of success are open to the potential criminals (Young 1993:1) culture may suggest the aspiration that wearing Nike sneakers is what everyone should want, and then provide little employment opportunities for the individuals who are persuaded, via media advertisement, to buy the sneakers. The targets of these cultural messages have no money, are encouraged to want the shoes, and thus seek other means to gain access to these cultural trappings of success. These means will be criminal, if they cannot find legal channels that are equally financially rewarding. Even neighborhoods that are poor but not crime ridden show dissatisfaction with the social channels of mobility open to them, and with the institutional mechanism of law enforcement: "neighborhoods of concentrated disadvantage display elevated levels of legal cynicism, dissatisfaction with police, and tolerance of deviance unaccounted for by socio-demographic composition and crime-rate differences" (Sampson, Bartusch, & Jeglum 1998:1). Although not everyone in an environment where there are few socioeconomic opportunities may be criminal, the general distrust and sense of anomie or estrangement from validating social institutions, like the police, enables individuals who do feel motivated to engage in crime that they have more social freedom to do so. A drug dealer might be a pariah in a middle-class suburb, but socially tolerated in a poorer area where the law is viewed with contempt.

In a different social context, but in just as relevant an example, a Wall Street firm may pay lip service to ethics and the good service it aspires to give its clients, but it knows that investors will not pay attention to the firm unless it shows strong earnings, early on during its… READ MORE

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