SOCL 3501 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Anomie, White-Collar Crime, Neighborhood Watch
Document Summary
Chapter 2: positivism: strain theory, merton wanted to explain crime and deviance rates within the lower class, the strain theory says how society is arranged can cause crime and deviance. Success goals blocked means strain anomie deviance: success goals, society tells us what we should be trying to achieve. Economic success, but not just the only goal. Success goals are available to everyone regardless of race, class, gender. Society also gives us ways to achieve goals but the means aren"t equally dispersed: blocked means, things like education and job opportunities. We have access to education, but it isn"t as equal as we think it is. It comes about because of a disjuncture between goals and means. Sociology 3501: conformity, the most common mode of adaptation. This means you have goals and the means, but this doesn"t mean that economic success has been reached: most people conform.
