This juvenile is experiencing strain from many different things in his life. First of all this youth has come from a broken home. In many of our lower class neighborhoods the family structure only consists of either a mother or father, rarely are both parents present to raise their children. This can greatly affect a child while growing up in our society. It also does not help that Johnny’s family is poor and they live in the inner city, which is infested with crime. All these bad influences on Johnny only helps to greaten the load of strain he is experiencing.

From societies stand point this illustration can be viewed in many ways. The best way to classify and explain this type of deviant behavior is to reference it to Merton’s Strain Theory. There are different ways in which people respond to structural stress of society, not all of them are deviant. Merton identified five individual modes of adoption: conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism and, rebellion. The situation with Johnny can be best classified and the Innovation adaptation. This is probably the most common form of adaptation to the structural stress induced by the inability to legitimately achieve cultural goals. It is innovators who become the focus of criminologists. According to the text it is Innovators who aspire to attain conventional goals but use illegal means to succeed because they do not perceive themselves as having legitimate opportunities. As a social structure

Some topics in this essay:
Strain Theory, American Dream, Instead Merton, Marshall Clinard, American Dream”, Additionally Johnny’s, Merton’s Theory, York City, Retreatism Rebellions, Robert Merton’s, lower class, merton’s strain theory, strain theory, merton’s strain, american dream, social structure, inner city, merton argues, legitimate opportunities, american society, structure society,