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164 AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICALREVIEW
retical model, specificationof outcomes of the be extended, as shown, to catch up additional
model is an essential step. The orderin which real categories of deviant behavior. Our
the elements of a theory is developed is ir- extension of the typology, like the original,
relevant to the content of the theoretical is grounded in implicit social psychological
model. rather than sociological "laws of interaction."
We conclude that Merton's typology can These typologies are part-theories. Theo-
"As the typology of responses to anomie is intended retical models of deviant behavior which ex-
to make clear, there are distinct kinds of behavior plain why and how such behavior occurs
which, in contrast to their manifest appearance of remain to be constructed. Perhaps these
conformity to institutionalized expectations, can be
shown upon further sociological analysis to represent typologies, as componentparts, will be useful
departures from these expectations." (p. 182) in that effort.
flectedin the characterof delinquentconduct been omitted from this discussion because it is
on the part of children. While delinquency dealt with in a second article, "Types of Delinquent
in all high rate areasis intrinsicallydisorderly Subcultures," prepared jointly with Lloyd E.
in that it is unrelatedto officialprogramsfor Ohlin (mimeographed, December, 1958, New York
the educationof the young,in the [integrated School of Social Work, Columbia University). It
community] boys may more or less realis- may be noted that although Cohen does not ex-
tically recognizethe potentialitiesfor personal plicitly affirm continuity with either the Durkheim-
progressin local society throughaccess to de- Merton or the Shaw-McKay-Sutherland traditions,
linquency.In a general way, therefore, de- we believe that he clearly belongs in the former.
linquentactivity in these areas constitutesa He does not deal with what appears to be the
training ground for the acquisitionof skill essence of the Shaw-McKay-Sutherland tradition,
in the use of violence,concealmentof offense, namely, the crucial social functions performed by
evasionof detectionand arrest,and the pur- the integration of offenders of differing age-levels
chase of immunityfrom punishment. Those and the integration of adult carriers of criminal
who come to excel in these respectsare fre- and conventional values. Rather, he is concerned
quently noted and valuedby adult leadersin primarily with the way in which discrepancies be-
the rackets who are confronted,as are the tween status aspirations and possibilities for achieve-
leaders of all income-producingenterprises, ment generate pressures for delinquent behavior.
with problems of the recruitmentof com- The latter notion is a central feature in the anomie
petent personnel. tradition.
ILLEGITIMATE MEANS, ANOMIE, AND DEVIANT BEHAVIOR 173
ranks and others disproportionately in the ambition because of inappropriate prepara-
lower. From an historical perspective, as tion. The prerequisiteattitudes and skills are
Bell has shown, this realm has been succes- more easily acquired if the individual is a
sively dominated by Irish, East-European member of the lower class; most middle- and
Jews, and more recently, by Italians.23Vari- upper-class persons could not easily unlearn
ous other ethnic groups have been virtually their own class culture in order to learn a new
excluded or at least relegated to lower- one. By the same token, access to many
echelon positions. Despite the fact that many "white collar" criminal roles is closed to
rackets (especially "policy") have flourished lower-class persons. Some occupations afford
in predominantly Negro neighborhoods, abundant opportunities to engage in illegiti-
there have been but one or two Negroes who mate activity; others offer virtually none.
have been known to rise to the top in The businessman, for example, not only has
syndicated crime. As in the conventional at his disposal the means to do so, but, as
world, Negroes are relegated to the more some studies have shown, he is under per-
menial tasks. Moreover, access to elite posi- sistent pressure to employ illegitimate means,
tions in the rackets may be governed in part if only to maintain a competitive advantage
by kinship criteria, for various accounts of in the market place. But for those in many
the blood relations among top racketeers other occupations, white collar modes of
indicate that nepotism is the general rule.24 criminal activity are simply not an alterna-
It has also been noted that kinship criteria tive.27
sometimes govern access to stable criminal
roles, as in the case of the pickpocket.25 SOME IMPLICATIONS OF A CONSOLIDATED AP-
And there are, of course, deep-rootedsex dif- PROACH TO DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
ferentials in access to illegal means. Although
women are often employed in criminal voca- It is now possible to consolidate the two
tions-for example, thievery, confidence sociological traditions described above. Our
games, and extortion-and must be employed analysis makes it clear that these traditions
in others-such as prostitution-nevertheless are oriented to different aspects of the same
females are excluded from many criminal problem: differentials in access to opportu-
activities.26 nity. One tradition focusses on legitimate
Of the various criteria governing access to opportunity, the other on illegitimate. By
illegitimate means, class differentialsmay be incorporating the concept of differentials in
among the most important. The differentials access to illegitimate means, the theory of
noted in the preceding paragraph-age, sex, anomie may be extended to include seemingly
ethnicity, kinship, and the like-all pertain unrelated studies and theories of deviant
to criminal activity historically associated behavior which form a part of the literature
with the lower class. Most middle- or upper- of American criminology. In this final sec-
class persons-even when interested in fol- tion, we try to show how a consolidated
lowing "lower-class"criminal careers-would approach might advance the understanding
no doubt have difficulty in fulfilling this of both rates and types of deviant conduct.
Life," The Antioch Review (Summer, 1953), pp. tional skills is often a prerequisite for the com-
131-154. mission of white collar crimes, since the individual
24 For a discussion of kinship relationships among must have these skills in hand before he can secure
top racketeers, see Stanley Frank, "The Rap a position entailing "trust." As Cressey says, "it
Gangsters Fear Most," The Saturday Evening Post may be observed that persons trained to carry on the
(August 9, 1958), pp. 26ff. This article is based on a routine duties of a position of trust have at the same
review of the files of the United States Immigration time been trained in whatever skills are necessary
and Naturalization Service. for the violation of that position, and the technical
25 See David W. Maurer, Whiz Mob: A Correla- skill necessary to trust violation is simply the
tion of the Technical Argot of Pickpockets with technical skill necessary to holding the position in
Their Behavior Pattern, Publication of the American the first place." (Donald R. Cressey, Other People's
Dialect Society, No. 24, 1955. Money, Glencoe, Ill.: Free Press, 1953, pp. 81-82.)
26 For a discussion of racial, nationality, and sex Thus skills required in certain crimes need not be
differentials governing access to a stable criminal learned in association with criminals; they can be
role, see ibid., Chapter 6. acquired through conventional learning.
174 AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICALREVIEW
The discussion centers on the conditions of tion. Would we expect, to raise the principal
access to both systems of means, legitimate query, the correlation to be fixed or to vary
and illegitimate. depending on the distribution of access to
illegitimate means? The three possibilities
The Distribution of Criminal Behavior. are (1) that access is distributed uniformly
One problem which has plagued the crimi- throughout the class structure, (2) that ac-
nologist is the absence of adequate data on cess varies inversely with class position, and
social differentialsin criminal activity. Many (3) that access varies directly with class
have held that the highest crime rates are to position. Specification of these possibilities
be found in the lower social strata. Others permits a more precise statement of the con-
have suggested that rates in the middle and ditions under which crime rates would be
upper classes may be much higher than is expected to vary.
ordinarilythought. The question of the social If access to illegitimate means is uniformly
distribution of crime remains problematic. distributed throughout the class structure,
In the absence of adequate data, the theo- then the proposed correlation would prob-
rist has sometimes attacked this problem by ably hold-higher rates of innovating be-
assessing the extent of pressures toward havior would be expected in the lower class
normative departures in various parts of than elsewhere. Lower-class persons appar-
the social structure. For example, Merton ently experience greater pressures toward
remarks that his "primaryaim is to discover deviance and are less restrained by inter-
how some social structures exert a definite nalized prohibitions from employing illegiti-
pressure upon certain persons in the society mate means. Assuming uniform access to
to engage in non-conforming rather than such means, it would therefore be reasonable
conforming conduct."28 Having identified to predict higher rates of innovating behavior
structural features which might be expected
in the lower social strata.
to generate deviance, Merton suggests the
If access to illegitmate means varies in-
presence of a correlation between "pressures
versely with class position, then the correla-
toward deviation" and "rate of deviance."
tion would not only hold, but might even be
But whateverthe differentialratesof deviant strengthened. For pressures toward deviance,
behaviorin the several social strata, and we
know from many sources that the official including socialization that does not al-
crime statistics uniformly showing higher together discourage the use of illegitimate
rates in the lower strata are far from com- means, would coincide with the availability
plete or reliable,it appearsfrom our analysis of such means.
that the greater pressurestoward deviation
are exerted upon the lower strata. . . . Of Finally, if access varies directly with class
those located in the lower reaches of the position, comparative rates of illegitimate
social structure,the culturemakesincompati- activity become difficult to forecast. The
ble demands.On the one handthey are asked higher the class position, the less the pressure
to orient their behaviortowardthe prospect
of large wealth . . . and on the other, they to employ illegitimate means; furthermore,
are largely denied effective opportunitiesto internalizedprohibitionsare apparently more
do so institutionally.The consequenceof this effective in higher positions. If, at the same
structuralinconsistencyis a highrate of devi- time, opportunities to use illegitimate meth-
ant behavior.29
ods are more abundant, then these factors
Because of the paucity and unreliability of would be in opposition. Until the precise
existing criminal statistics, there is as yet effects of these several variables can be more
no way of knowing whether or not Merton's adequately measured, rates cannot be safely
hypothesis is correct. Until comparative forecast.
studies of crime rates are available the hy- The concept of differentialsin availability
pothesized correlation cannot be tested. of illegitimate means may also help to clarify
From a theoretical perspective, however, questions about varying crime rates among
questions may be raised about this correla- ethnic, age, religious, and sex groups, and
other social divisions. This concept, then, can
28 Merton,op. cit., p. 132. be systematically employed in the effort to
29 Ibid., pp. 144-145. further our understandingof the distribution
ILLEGITIMATE MEANS, ANOMIE, AND DEVIANT BEHAVIOR 175
of illegitimate behavior in the social struc- and illegitimate means. If illegitimate means
ture. are unavailable, if efforts at innovation fail,
then retreatist adaptations may still be the
Modes of Adaptation: The Case of Re- consequence, and the "escape" mechanisms
treatism. By taking into account the condi- chosen by the defeated individual may per-
tions of access to legitimate and illegitimate haps be all the more deviant because of his
means, we can further specify the circum- "double failure."
stances under which various modes of deviant This does not mean that retreatist adapta-
behavior arise. This may be illustrated by tions cannot arise precisely as Merton sug-
the case of retreatism.30 gests: namely, that the conversion from
As defined by Merton, retreatist adapta- conformity to retreatism takes place in one
tions include such categories of behavior as step, without intervening adaptations. But
alcoholism, drug addiction, and psychotic this is only one route to retreatism. The
withdrawal. These adaptations entail "es- conversion may at times entail intervening
cape" from the frustrations of unfulfilled stages and intervening adaptations, particu-
aspirations by withdrawal from conventional larly of an innovating type. This possibility
social relationships. The processes leading to helps to account for the fact that certain
retreatism are described by Merton as fol- categories of individuals cited as retreatists
lows: " [Retreatism] arises from continued -for example, hobos-often show extensive
failure to near the goal by legitimate meas- histories of arrests and convictions for vari-
ures and from an inability to use the illegiti- ous illegal acts. It also helps to explain re-
mate route because of internalized prohibi- treatist adaptations among individuals who
tions, this process occurring while the have not necessarily internalized strong re-
supreme value of the success-goal has not straints on the use of illegitimate means. In
yet been renounced. The conflict is resolved short, retreatist adaptations may arise with
by abandoning both precipitating elements, considerable frequency among those who are
the goals and means. The escape is complete, failures in both worlds, conventional and il-
the conflict is eliminated and the individual legitimate alike.82
is asocialized."31 Future research on retreatist behavior
In this view, a crucial element encouraging might well examine the interval between
retreatism is internalized constraint concern- conformity and retreatism. To what extent
ing the use of illegitimate means. But this does the individual entertain the possibility
element need not be present. Merton appar- of resorting to illegitimate means, and to
ently assumed that such prohibitions are what extent does he actually seek to mobilize
essential because, in their absence, the logic such means? If the individual turns to inno-
of his scheme would compel him to predict vating devices, the question of whether or
that innovating behavior would result. But not he becomes a retreatist may then depend
the assumption that the individual unin- upon the relative accessibility of illegitimate
hibited in the use of illegitimate means be- means. For although the frustrated conform-
comes an innovator presupposesthat success- ist seeks a solution to status discontent by
ful innovation is only a matter of motivation. adopting such methods, there is the further
Once the concept of differentialsin access to problem of whether or not he possesses ap-
illegitimate means is introduced, however, it
becomes clear that retreatismis possible even 32 The processes of "double failure" being specified
in the absence of internalized prohibitions. here may be of value in re-analyzing the correlation
For we may now ask how individuals respond between alcoholism and petty crime. Investigation
of the careers of petty criminals who are alcoholic
when they fail in the use of both legitimate may reveal that after being actively oriented toward
30 Retreatist behavior is but one of many types stable criminal careers they then lost out in the
of deviant adaptations which might be re-analyzed competitive struggle. See, e.g., Irwin Deutscher,
in terms of this consolidated theoretical approach. "The Petty Offender: A Sociological Alien," The
In subsequent papers, being prepared jointly with Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology and Police
Lloyd E. Ohlin, other cases of deviant behavior- Science, 44 (January-February, 1954), pp. 592-
e.g., collective disturbances in prisons and sub- 595; Albert D. Ullman et al., "Some Social Char-
cultural adaptations among juvenile delinquents- acteristics of Misdemeanants," The Journal of
will be examined. In this connection, see footnote 22. Criminal Law, Criminology and Police Science,
31 Merton, op. cit., pp. 153-154. 48 (May-June, 1957), pp. 44-53.
176 AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICALREVIEW
propriate skills and has opportunities for various accounts of hobohemia and skid row,
their use. We suggest therefore that data be however, that many of these persons are the
gathered on preliminary responses to status products of slum life, and, furthermore,that
discontent-and on the individual's percep- their behavior is not necessarily controlled
tions of the efficacy of employing illegitimate by values which preclude resort to illegiti-
means, the content of his skills, and the ob- mate means. But once it is recognized that
jective situation of illegitimate opportunity retreatism may arise in response to limita-
available to him. tions on both systems of means, the difficulty
Respecification of the processes leading to of locating this adaptation is lessened, if not
retreatismmay also help to resolve difficulties resolved. Thus retreatist behavior may vary
entailed in ascertainingrates of retreatism in with the particular process by which it is
different parts of the social structure. Al- generated. The process described by Merton
though Merton does not indicate explicitly may be somewhat more characteristic of
where this adaptation might be expected to higher positions in the social structure where
arise, he specifies some of the social condi- rule-orientedsocialization is typical, while in
tions which encourage high rates of retreat- the lower strata retreatism may tend more
ism. Thus the latter is apt to mark the be- often to be the consequence of unsuccessful
havior of downwardly mobile persons, who attempts at innovation.
experience a sudden breakdown in estab-
lished social relations, and such individuals as SUMMARY
the retired,who have lost major social roles.33
The long-standing difficulties in forecast- This paper attempts to identify and to
ing differential rates of retreatism may per- define the concept of differentialopportunity
haps be attributed to the assumption that structures. It has been suggested that this
retreatists have fully internalized values pro- concept helps to extend the developing theory
hibiting the use of illegitimate means. That of social structure and anomie. Furthermore,
this prohibition especially characterizes so- by linking propositionsregardingthe accessi-
cialization in the middle and upper classes bility of both legitimate and illegitimate op-
probably calls for the prediction that re- portunity structures, a basis is provided for
treatism occurs primarily in those classes- consolidating various major traditions of so-
and that the hobohemias, "drug cultures," ciological thought on nonconformity. The
and the ranks of the alcoholics are populated concept of differentialsystems of opportunity
primarily by individuals from the upper and of variations in access to them, it is
reaches of society. It would appear from hoped, will suggest new possibilities for re-
search on the relationship between social
33 Merton, op. cit., pp. 188-189. structure and deviant behavior.