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To what extent is Robert Merton's theory of 'anomie' helpful in understanding crime in contemporary society?
- Words:
- 2247
- Submitted:
- Mon Jun 06 2005

... To what extent is Robert Merton's theory of 'anomie' helpful in understanding crime in contemporary society? It is rightfully argued that crime, whether or not in a contemporary society, is an extremely complex and multi-faceted Phenomena that has puzzled academics for many years. Theories that aim to rationalise the causes of crime and understand the origin of criminal behaviour are often criticised for being too biased or deterministic in their research studies. Many have been of great influence and seen to explain (to an extent) the cause of crime but none has fully decoded the mystery of why people commit crime. Merton's anomie theory aimed at explaining deviance from a sociological perspective as opposed to previous academic theories on crime and criminals. The first well known study of crime and criminals is that of one who is often referred to as the 'father of criminology', Cesar Lombroso. Lombroso's argument was based around














