10/25/2010

Society's Ways of Getting What You Want

  We all have our specific goals in life and most of those directly relate to the pursuit of money. So today I would like to share with you my sociology notes regarding Robert Merton's Strain Theory. The theory states that we all have similar goals to make money however some people may not have the means to do so which leads people to obtaining what they want through 4 methods.


1. Innovation - The first way is innovation, making bank the way the system never taught you. Often this is associated with crime; drug dealing, robbery and racketeering are the first that come to mind.

2. Ritualism - This method makes significantly less cash than the other logical solutions, however the key to ritualism is replacing monetary value with the knowledge you hold. Think of any damn bureaucrat, they probably don't make shit but could tell you a lot about how they do their jobs.

3. Retreatism - Based on the name you might have reached the conclusion that this is someone who has completely given up and renounced societies values...Think of a hermit

No...I said "Hermit"...

4. Rebellion - These people too reject the values, however instead of retreating, they oppose the rules and become the forces that drive society. An example would be the hippy counter-culture, not that everyone who is rebellious are starting riots but they do try to change the current playing field so they too can have an equal chance.



19 comments:

  1. great post, I actually learned something!

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  2. a bit more information on "Reteatism" would have been informative ;)

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  3. damn man you are one hell of a compelling writer. well done.

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  4. Surely innovation isn't limited to criminal enterprises though?

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  5. cool post mang, so true

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  6. Very informative post, cheers mate.

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  7. Being a hermit is surprisingly fulfilling for short periods.

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  8. we need a bit more of 4 :D

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  9. Interesting and number 4 is becoming very uncommon

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  10. nice post, simple but so true.

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  11. interesting read thx for sharing

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  12. i laughed at your picture haha
    but good post tho

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