Anomie theory (Merton)
Robert K. Merton’s Anomie Theory expands Émile Durkheim’s concept of anomie by linking deviant behavior to structural inequalities in access to culturally approved goals. First systematically developed in Social Structure and Anomie (1938/1949), the theory explains crime as a socially structured adaptation to blocked opportunities rather than individual pathology. Merton argues that when culturally valued
