Thursday, 4 March 2010

Strain Theory - Merton

RRRIC - Rosie's Really Really Itchy Calf

Conformity - Accept goals and means - non-deviant, non-criminal conformist citizen.

Innovation - Accepts goals but does not accept means - Factors like poor education qualifications or unemployment mean that some people can't achieve goals by approved means so they turn to crime as an alternative.

Ritualism - Accepts means but does not accept goals - Give up on achieving goals but stick to means. E.g. teachers who have given up caring about student success, or office workers who have abandoned hopes of promotion and are just marking time until they retire. 

Retreatism - Does not accept means or goals - Drop outs like drug addicts or tramps, who give up all together.

Rebellion - Can either accept of reject both means and goals - Reject existing social goals and means, but substitute new ones to create a new society, like revolutionaries or members of some religious sects. 

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