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Examples of Merton's Paradigm of Deviant Behaviour

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.

LianzhenWentworth (talk)22:52, 21 February 2017