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Anomie And Deviance

382 Words2 Pages
It is impossible to pinpoint one reason why people partake in deviant behavior. While a person’s own pathology may have some effect on whether a person will commit crime, I think that most acts of deviance are the result of their social environment. Different people react in their own way to different opportunities handed to them. Whether these responses to their environment are either “deviant” or “criminal” is determined by the society they are a part of. While Emile Durkheim discusses the effect of anomie on mental states, Robert K. Merton elaborates on the concept of anomie created by a society where success is based on material goods. “The acceptable means to attain success are often in short supply, and what means exist are not uniformly
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