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Institutional Anomie Help Us Understand The Choices Made By Howard Ratner

1665 Words7 Pages

CJ Armstrong
CRJS 2090
Case Study 1
2/18/23
1. How does Messner and Rosenfeld’s theory of institutional anomie help us understand the choices made by Howard Ratner in the film? What type of strain reviewed in the class can be best applied? Completely define all components of the theory(s), then apply the theory to the film. The theory of institutional anomie essentially assumes that an individual places material goods above most other things in life because in the United States material wealth is what decides where you stand relative to others. Since you have material wealth on such a high pedestal according to theory the individual devalues things that do not promote individual economic growth so if the goal is to attain wealth you will ignore …show more content…

So now we have examined the main source of strain let's look at how this influenced him throughout the movie and brought upon the second source of strain, so since the rock plan isn't going to sell he goes through numerous methods of raising funds, one thing he does is pawn his customer's jewelry and then using those funds he gambles the funds because gambling is the both the quickest way to lose your money and also the quickest way to double it. In the film using the money he got from pawning jewelry that wasn't his, he gambles it and bets it on a sports game and while the bet goes well for him the people he owes money catch wind of what he was doing and canceled his bet so in the end he didn't profit and was punished for not immediately paying off the gambling debt. After that happens he tries to sell the rock at auction for 1 million however he finds out it has been appraised at only 200k maximum and he previously declined an offer at 175k because he believed it was worth 1 million so what he plans to do is drive up the auction to at least 250k so that the …show more content…

Rational choice theory predicts that the individual or individuals think that the reward outweighs the risk. For example, Howard Ratner thought it was a rational decision to buy the rock instead of paying his debt off because he would come out with lots of profit as well as be free of debt, he also thought it was rational to gamble all of his funds despite his life and family being on the line because he would get heavy financial gain and one may wonder if the worth of ones family is worth any amount of money however according to anomie theory one's personal connections and they're worth get lowered in the journey to worth which we see on multiple occasions, Howard puts watching the game that he bet on over spending time with son he also decided to break contact with his mistress and only contacts her so that she can place a bet he views everyone as a pawn for him to benefit himself, so it isn't surprising that he held his family and their lives on such a low scale compared to material wealth. Anytime he was in danger or capable of paying off his debt he thought it was the reasonable choice to gamble so that he could come out on top at the end of the day. This means that the decision-making made by Howard was not only hindered by mass amounts of strain but his mind was also tainted by the need for material wealth by any means possible which devalued the worth of those

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