Research Paper on:
Delinquency and Deviance Theories

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
be seen as reflecting not only Mertons theoretical perspectives but also his own experience and observations of American society. Merton distinguishes between two main elements in social culture: goals and  aspirations, and the means by which these may be achieved. The former comprises all those elements which individuals are expected to want from their lives, such as financial reward, material  possessions and social status. The latter is the means by which such goals can be achieved whilst conforming to socially acceptable norms of behaviour, such as becoming educated, working, obeying  the law and so on. Merton stated that society  would be able to function in a balanced way as long as people were able to achieve their desired goals through these conformist forms of behaviour: where there was a  discrepancy between what was desired and the means of achieving it, however, this would lead to a lack of balance and eventually criminality. Individuals would only continue to conform if  they felt there was an intrinsic reward (the satisfaction of acting according to the rules) coupled with an external one, that of material gain.  However, in some cases the desired goals would not be equally available to all social groups, in others there might be too  great an emphasis on the importance of the goal, and less on the importance of achieving it through socially acceptable means. When such disparities occurred, it was more likely that  individuals within the disadvantaged groups would use illegitimate means to achieve their goals. Merton felt that the strong emphasis on material gain which is prevalent in American society, coupled with