Anomie and Strain: Context and Consequences of Merton's Two Theories

Abstract

Robert Merton presented two, not always clearly differentiated theories in his seminal explorations on the social-structure-and-anomie paradigm: a strain theory and an anomie theory. A one-sided focus on Merton's strain theory in the secondary literature has unnecessarily restricted the power and effectiveness of Merton's anomie theory. For although structural strain is one way to explain why deviance occurs in the context of anomie, it is not the only way. We contend that scholars who are critical of strain theory should not automatically discard Merton's anomie theory, because the perspective of anomie is compatible with several other theories of crime and delinquency. Offering examples of previous integration efforts, we maintain that Merton's theoretical model can benefit from the input of other theories of crime and deviance as much as these other theoretical perspectives can fine-tune their models and explanations.

Anomie and the Marketing Function: The Role of Control Mechanisms

“…Attention to these distinctions is necessary as scholars have noted that two sources of confusion often surround the study of anomie: (a) a misunderstanding exists in the differences between Merton's theory of anomie and Merton's theory of strain (Featherstone and Deflem, 2003) and, (b) a blurring of lines has evolved between Merton's strain theory and the characterization of anomy or anomia in the psychology literature (Orru, 1987). As these distinctions are central to understanding our contributions to the ethics and marketing literature, we now delineate them (Figure 1) Merton (1964Merton ( , 1968 built upon Durkheim's work in an effort to explain how the rates of deviant behavior may vary in different social structures.…”

“…However, sociology scholars maintain that each theory is distinct (Baumer, 2007;Featherstone and Deflem, 2003). Unlike Merton's (1968) theory of anomie, the theory of strain incorporates both the cultural and social structures of a social system.…”

“…Summarily, the theory of strain provides a structural explanation of the processes that link a situation (i.e., goal impediment created by a structural imbalance) with one's motivation to act (i.e., commit an act of deviance) (Baumer, 2007;Featherstone and Deflem, 2003). At a broad level, this situationindividual approach resembles the framework widely used in social psychology.…”

The Psychology of Anomie

“…Nevertheless, the inconsistent mix between macro-level "social structure and anomie" reasoning and the micro-level "goal orientation, opportunity, anomie and crime" paradigm has led some to conclude that Merton's theoretical stand on anomie is too confusing (see Featherstone & Deflem, 2003).…”

“…Featherstone, & Deflem, 2003;Orrù, 1987;Zhao, 2007). The operationalization of anomie as an individual level construct presents anomie as a state of mind: a set of beliefs, feelings and attitudes in the individual's mind (Davol & Reimanis, 1959;McClosky & Schaar, 1965).…”