CC290 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Anomie, Individualism
Document Summary
Theories of crime- social structure, strain, and anomie. Effective interaction between individuals with similar problems. Looks at delinquent subculture what looks between the difficult conditions that aren"t a. Important functions of delinquent subculture how does strain cause crime indirectly. Crime in america as a macro-level product of widely admired cultural and social structures with deep historical roots (page 200: crime has a place in the american dream. Americana dream: moving from having nothing and to being nothing, to having everything and being everything. Dominance of the economy arouse to economic success (capitalism), structural alternatives for success. High crime rates stem from everything being encouraged to purse monetary success without emphasis on the norms for achieving such success (page 191: protecting yourself from unsafe things. Merton fails to identify the social structure the generate anomic pressures (page 193) Mutual interaction with society: example: law influences us and limits us. Each society is characterized by a distinctive arrangement of social institutions (page.
