Examples of Merton's Paradigm of Deviant Behaviour

My answer for questions on wiki page: My example for innovation type of deviant behavior is someone wants to get into Havard so he can receive compliments. However, he gets into Havard by an unrecognized way, like faking GPAs, or cheat in exams so he can get into Harvard.

For ritualism, if someone did not satisfy with his job, he did it only for make a living, there is no work ethics about this job, he just did it because he has to.

For retreatism, this is a given up on both pursuing social means and goals. An example can be homeless people. (Not sure for this one.)

A homeless person is most definitely an example of retreatism if the person is lacking the institutional means to achieve the goal of living in a home and getting a job to support him or herself and doesn't feel inclined to try and reach this goal via other means such as stealing. The idea of begging is intesting for this, however because it would seem the person lacks the means, but is striving for the goal of making a living, albeit by unconventional means, which would make him or her an innovator. Do we really think of beggars as innovators? Typically innovators would be people like Bill Gates who did not go to university, but who still ended achieving the goals that are socialized in our society.

Hi Kejing, l think that while homeless people could be an example of retreatism, it cannot be generalized to all homeless people. Retreatism is when someone doesn't desire to fulfill cultural goals or abide by institutional norms. I believe that there are homeless people that desire the cultural goals but face other obstacles that prevent them from attaining it, such as mental health issues or unavailable support. This doesn't make them retreatists because they want to achieve the goals. I think Lianzhen brings up a good point about the way we would define these people. I think it would depend on their situation and the different actions and motivations that they do/have in order to label them in one of the five ways that Merton describes.

I agree with what Vanessa is saying about how some individuals who are homeless may have the desire to fulfill the cultural goal but face obstacles to achieving it. This is a very prominent problem today and we can't really generalize to all individuals as each person is quite different. One example that popped into my mind when there was mention of homeless individuals are those with a criminal record. Once they are released from the prison system, they still face stigma in society and they have a hard time finding a job. They may have the urge to start over and get that clean slate that is told to them but they have these barriers that keep them from it. In turn, this might push them to become homeless and it becomes this ongoing vicious cycle.

I agree with the example of people having criminal records and are unable to get accepted into the society again. Usually people with a criminal record are rarely hired due to social stigmas. Because they are unable to support themselves, despite them wanting to integrate into the society again, they are unable to. However what about people who are already homeless but refuses to live in social housings? Some homeless people claimed that social housing is like a warehouse and they would rather live on streets and have the freedom. By refusing institutional aid, would it becomes rebellion?

Hi Vanessa, You really pointed out my concern about why I was not sure about defining homeless people as retreatism. Because, when we study sociology, we try to reveal the undercover fact, and for a lot of homeless people, more accurately, they are house-less. Therefore, they might still try to reach the institution means, but they lost the ability to get involved in social activities (lost a place to live). I think that is why I was not sure to say all homeless people are retreatism.