It is caused by block opportunities. Robert King Merton who developed the Stain Theory was an American sociologist who claimed that society can boost deviance to a large degree. Merton assumed that socially accepted goals put pressure on people to follow. People are compulsory to work within the system or become members of a deviant subculture to achieve the desired goal. Merton continued on to say when individuals are faced with a gap between their goals (usually finances/money related) and their current status, strain occurs.