What is it called when people reject the societal goal but continue to use the accepted means of reaching the goal?

Strain theory states that social structures within society may pressure citizens to commit crimes.

Learning Objectives

• Apply Merton’s typology of deviance to the real world and give examples for each type

• typology: The systematic classification of the types of something according to their common characteristics.
• Social strain theory: Social strain theory was developed by famed American sociologist Robert K. Merton who, in his discussion of deviance, proposed a typology of deviant behavior.

Social strain theory was developed by famed American sociologist Robert K. Merton. The theory states that social structures may pressure citizens to commit crimes. Strain may be structural, which refers to the processes at the societal level that filter down and affect how the individual perceives his or her needs. Strain may also be individual, which refers to the frictions and pains experienced by an individual as he or she looks for ways to satisfy individual needs. These types of strain can insinuate social structures within society that then pressure citizens to become criminals.

In his discussion of deviance Merton proposed a typology of deviant behavior that illustrated the possible discrepancies between culturally defined goals and the institutionalized means available to achieve these goals. A typology is a classification scheme designed to facilitate understanding. In this case, Merton was proposing a typology of deviance based upon two criteria: (1) a person’s motivations or his adherence to cultural goals; (2) a person’s belief in how to attain his goals. According to Merton, there are five types of deviance based upon these criteria:

• Conformity involves the acceptance of the cultural goals and means of attaining those goals.
• Innovation involves the acceptance of the goals of a culture but the rejection of the traditional and/or legitimate means of attaining those goals. For example, a member of the Mafia values wealth but employs alternative means of attaining his wealth; in this example, the Mafia member’s means would be deviant.
• Ritualism involves the rejection of cultural goals but the routinized acceptance of the means for achieving the goals.
• Retreatism involves the rejection of both the cultural goals and the traditional means of achieving those goals.
• Rebellion is a special case wherein the individual rejects both the cultural goals and traditional means of achieving them but actively attempts to replace both elements of the society with different goals and means.

What makes Merton’s typology so fascinating is that people can turn to deviance in the pursuit of widely accepted social values and goals. For instance, individuals in the U.S. who sell illegal drugs have rejected the culturally acceptable means of making money, but still share the widely accepted cultural value in the U.S. of making money. Thus, deviance can be the result of accepting one norm, but breaking another in order to pursue the first. In this sense, according social strain theory, social values actually produce deviance in two ways. First, an actor can reject social values and therefore become deviant. Additionally, an actor can accept social values but use deviant means to realize them.

Critics point to the fact that there is an ample amount of crime/delinquent behavior that is “non-utilitarian, malicious, and negativistic” (O’Grady, 2011), which highlights that not all crimes are explicable using Merton’s theory. Crimes such as vandalism, for example, can’t be explained by a need for material acquisition.

Ritualism is a concept developed by American sociologist Robert K. Merton as a part of his structural strain theory. It refers to the common practice of going through the motions of daily life even though one does not accept the goals or values that align with those practices.

Merton, an important figure in early American sociology, created what is considered to be one of the most important theories of deviance within the discipline. Merton's structural strain theory states that people experience tension when a society does not provide adequate and approved means for achieving culturally valued goals. In Merton's view, people either accept these conditions and go along with them, or they challenge them in some way, which means they think or act in ways that appear deviant from cultural norms.

Structural strain theory accounts for five responses to such strain, of which ritualism is one. Other responses include conformity, which involves continual acceptance of the goals of the society and continued participation in the approved means through which one is supposed to achieve them. Innovation involves accepting the goals but rejecting the means and creating new means. Retreatism refers to rejection of both the goals and the means, and rebellion occurs when individuals reject both and then create new goals and means to pursue.

According to Merton's theory, ritualism occurs when a person rejects the normative goals of their society but nonetheless continues to participate in the means of attaining them. This response involves deviance in the form of rejecting the normative goals of society but is not deviant in practice because the person continues to act in a way that is in line with pursuing those goals.

One common example of ritualism is when people do not embrace the goal of getting ahead in society by doing well in one's career and earning as much money as possible. Many have often thought of this as the American Dream, as did Merton when he created his theory of structural strain. In contemporary American society, many have become aware that stark economic inequality is the norm, that most people do not actually experience social mobility in their lives, and that most money is made and controlled by a very tiny minority of wealthy individuals.

Those who see and understand this economic aspect of reality, and those who simply do not value economic success but frame success in other ways, will reject the goal of climbing the economic ladder. Yet, most will still engage in the behaviors that are meant to achieve this goal. Most will spend most of their time at work, away from their families and friends, and may even still attempt to gain status and increased salary within their professions, despite the fact that they reject the end goal. They "go through the motions" of what is expected perhaps because they know that it is normal and expected, because they do not know what else to do with themselves, or because they have no hope or expectation of change within society.

Ultimately, though ritualism stems from discontent with the values and goals of society, it works to maintain the status quo by keeping normal, everyday practices and behaviors in place. If you think about it for a moment, there are probably at least a few ways in which you engage in ritualism in your life.

The form of ritualism that Merton described in his structural strain theory describes behavior among individuals, but sociologists have identified other forms of ritualism too. For example, sociologists also recognize political ritualism, which occurs when people participate in a political system by voting despite the fact that they believe that the system is broken and cannot actually achieve its goals.

Ritualism is common within bureaucracies, wherein rigid rules and practices are observed by members of the organization, even though doing so is often counter to their goals. Sociologists call this "bureaucratic ritualism."

Another framework sociologists use to understand the world is the structural functional theory. Its central idea is that society is a complex unit, made up of interrelated parts. Sociologists who apply this theory study social structure and social function. French sociologist Émile Durkheim based his work on this theory. 

Functions of Deviance

Durkheim argued that deviance is a normal and necessary part of any society because it contributes to the social order. He identified four specific functions that deviance fulfills:

1. Affirmation of cultural norms and values: Seeing a person punished for a deviant act reinforces what a society sees as acceptable or unacceptable behavior. Sentencing a thief to prison affirms our culturally held value that stealing is wrong. Just as some people believe that the concept of God could not exist without the concept of the devil, deviance helps us affirm and define our own norms.
2. Clarification of right and wrong: Responses to deviant behavior help individuals distinguish between right and wrong. When a student cheats on a test and receives a failing grade for the course, the rest of the class learns that cheating is wrong and will not be tolerated.
3. Unification of others in society: Responses to deviance can bring people closer together. In the aftermath of the attacks on September 11, 2001, people across the United States, and even the world, were united in their shock and grief. There was a surge in patriotic feeling and a sense of social unity among the citizens of the United States.
4. Promoting social change: Deviance can also encourage the dominant society to consider alternative norms and values. Rosa Parks’s act of deviance in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955 led to the U.S. Supreme Court’s declaration that segregation on public transportation was unconstitutional.

Strain Theory of Deviance

Sometimes people find that when they attempt to attain culturally approved goals, their paths are blocked. Not everyone has access to institutionalized means, or legitimate ways of achieving success. Strain theory, developed by sociologist Robert Merton, posits that when people are prevented from achieving culturally approved goals through institutional means, they experience strain or frustration that can lead to deviance. He said that they also experience anomie, or feelings of being disconnected from society, which can occur when people do not have access to the institutionalized means to achieve their goals.

Example: In a class of graduating high school seniors, 90 percent of the students have been accepted at various colleges. Five percent do not want to go to college, and the remaining five percent want to go to college but cannot, for any one of a number of reasons. All of the students want to succeed financially, and attending college is generally accepted as the first step toward that goal. The five percent who want to attend college but can’t probably feel frustrated. They had the same goals as everyone else but were blocked from the usual means of achieving them. They may act out in a deviant manner.

Institutionalized Means to Success

In the 1960s, sociologists Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin theorized that the most difficult task facing industrialized societies is finding and training people to take over the most intellectually demanding jobs from the previous generation. To progress, society needs a literate, highly trained work force. Society’s job is to motivate its citizens to excel in the workplace, and the best way to do that is to foment discontent with the status quo. Cloward and Ohlin argued that if people were dissatisfied with what they had, what they earned, or where they lived, they would be motivated to work harder to improve their circumstances.

In order to compete in the world marketplace, a society must offer institutionalized means of succeeding. For example, societies that value higher education as a way to advance in the workplace must make educational opportunity available to everyone.

Illegitimate Opportunity Structures

Cloward and Ohlin further elaborated on Merton’s strain theory. Deviant behavior—crime in particular—was not just a response to limited institutionalized means of success. Rather, crime also resulted from increased access to illegitimate opportunity structures, or various illegal means to achieve success. These structures, such as crime, are often more available to poor people living in urban slums. In the inner city, a poor person can become involved in prostitution, robbery, drug dealing, or loan sharking to make money. While these activities are clearly illegal, they often provide opportunities to make large amounts of money, as well as gain status among one’s peers.

Reactions to Cultural Goals and Institutionalized Means

Merton theorized about how members of a society respond to cultural goals and institutionalized means. He found that people adapt their goals in response to the means that society provides to achieve them. He identified five types of reactions:

1. Conformists: Most people are conformists. They accept the goals their society sets for them, as well as the institution-alized means of achieving them. Most people want to achieve that vague status called a “good life” and accept that an education and hard work are the best ways to get there.
2. Innovators: These people accept society’s goals but reject the usual ways of achieving them. Members of organized crime, who have money but achieve their wealth via deviant means, could be considered innovators.
3. Ritualists: A ritualist rejects cultural goals but still accepts the institutionalized means of achieving them. If a person who has held the same job for years has no desire for more money, responsibility, power, or status, he or she is a ritualist. This person engages in the same rituals every day but has given up hope that the efforts will yield the desired results.
4. Retreatists: Retreatists reject cultural goals as well as the institutionalized means of achieving them. They are not interested in making money or advancing in a particular career, and they tend not to care about hard work or about getting an education.
5. Rebels: Rebels not only reject culturally approved goals and the means of achieving them, but they replace them with their own goals. Revolutionaries are rebels in that they reject the status quo. If a revolutionary rejects capitalism or democracy, for example, he or she may attempt to replace it with his or her own form of government.

Method of adaptation

Cultural goals

Institutionalized means

Conformists

Accept

Accept

Innovators

Accept

Reject

Ritualists

Reject

Accept

Retreatists

Reject

Reject

Rebels

Reject/Replace

Reject/Replace

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