Criminology Robert Merton Was the Brain Behind

Criminology

Robert Merton was the brain behind Anomie Theory. This theory majors on deviance. The theory's major preoccupation is why rates of deviance differ from one society to the other and from one subgroup that come from one society to the other. Merton's work emphasizes cultures' unifying aspects and how it can create deviance and disunity within a society. Cultural norms, according to this theory, break down as a result of rapid changes that take place. The theory attributes occurrence of Anomic suicide to the occurrence of major economic depression that makes people not to achieve the goals they had learned to pursue (Siegel, 2008). Anomic suicide can also occur when there is an economic boom. In such circumstances people fail to limit their goals and be satisfied with their achievements. There can be lack of fit with regard to culture's norm about what constitute success in life and the appropriate way to achieve the goals. Anomie contributes to high rates of deviant behavior in the United States compared to other societies. It is also the reason behind distribution of deviant behaviors across groups defined by class, race, and ethnicity (Siegel, 2008). Societies that emphasize success goals for everyone in the culture are more likely to experience anomic suicide. People who scale back their success goals are criticized as quitters. There is some sort of ambivalence in norms with regard to what is perceived as appropriate means of being successful. Hard work and ambition in school and market place is considered are the culturally accepted means of success (Siegel, 2008). However, a robber baron and a rogue who breaks the rules about appropriate means but achieves success goals by deviant means are also admired. Success in certain societies is rated highly than virtue. In this regard I think that Merton's Anomie Theory appropriately describes Gotti's involvement in organized criminal activities. Gotti had earlier on been involved in gang activities in the community he grew up in. near the first half of the 20th century different Italian communities lived in same neighborhoods where the Mafia's activities were vicious (Siegel, 2008). The residents of these neighborhoods were poor relative to the criminal elements. Gotti happened to have grown in this neighborhood where means-end theory ruled. Successor plainly put, wealth, was all that matter. Opportunities for social advancement in this community were not the same as other communities'. Things were not easy either for an average white Anglo Saxon. The social networking with others involved respect in the community for the Mafia members for the reason that they made available that which the society was unable to through other conventional means (Siegel, 2008). Gotti learned from the early gang association and accepted the rules that the Mafia set forth and according to the standards of the neighborhood he excelled. Gotti lived a society that was strained with lack of opportunity to achieve upward social mobility. He therefore turned to crime to achieve goals that he could not achieve through legitimate means. This was contributed by the fact that there was no equality in this society. Having growing in poor neighborhood the only way out of this neighborhood could be nothing else other than engaging in criminal activities. Opportunities to decent education were not available at all (Siegel, 2008).

Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin came up with differential opportunity theory. This theory was an extension of the work of the duo Merton and Sunderland. Ohlin and Cloward posited that working class juveniles tend to choose one or another sub-cultural adjustment to their anomic situation depending on availability of illegitimate opportunity structures in the neighborhood. Pressure to join delinquent subcultures originates from discrepancies between culturally induced aspirations among lower class youths and available means of achieving those aspirations through legitimate means (SAGE, n.d.). Availability of illegitimate channels also drives the youths into using illegitimate channels. Societies with highly organized rackets provide upward mobility in the illegal opportunity structure. Illegitimate opportunities are dependent on locally available criminal traditions. This theory best fits Gotti's case as it focuses on delinquent gangs and youths from lower and working class backgrounds. This mirrors the neighborhood where Gotti grew up in and his early involvement with gangs. This neighborhood had limited opportunities for social advancement (SAGE, n.d.). Illegitimate opportunities that presented themselves were the only avenues through which he could move up the social ladder. He learned his behavior from the early gang association and accepted their rules of engagement in order to excel in this environment. Criminal tradition was deeply entrenched in the neighborhood he grew.