Question

Merton uses Strain theory to explain patterns of crime and deviance. There are five responses, they are:

Answer 1

Merton's strain theory explains patterns of crime and deviance by identifying five responses to the strain between socially accepted goals and the lack of socially accepted means to achieve them.

Step-by-step explanation:

Robert Merton used strain theory to explain patterns of crime and deviance. He identified five responses to the strain between socially accepted goals and the lack of socially accepted means to achieve them. These responses are:

1. Conformity: Individuals who accept both the goals and means of society.
2. Innovation: Individuals who accept the goals of society but resort to unconventional means to achieve them.
3. Ritualism: Individuals who lower their goals to conform to the socially accepted means of achieving them.
4. Retreatism: Individuals who reject both the goals and means of society.
5. Rebellion: Individuals who reject both the goals and means of society and replace them with their own.