The Strain Theory refers to the gaps between the goals that people have and the means they have to achieve those goals. Society has a set of values and goals accompanied by an acceptable way of meeting those goals. Not everyone, however, can reach these goals in acceptable ways. Robert Merton introduced the Strain Theory to explain how that gap may lead to crime. I most appreciate this theory because it seems logical that a person would have goals and may not be able to reach said goals in acceptable ways, thus leading them to commit crimes. The theory itself has an inherent gap in that it only explains low-level crimes, such as theft, and is not applicable to crimes such as murder or rape.
             This theory was introduced by Robert Merton, an American sociologist, who lived from 1910 to 2003. His theory advanced an explanation for crime, suggesting that people commit a crime to achieve the things that they need or want in life if they don't have the acceptable ways to achieve these things. He came up with five types of adaption to achieve these needs and wants. They are Conformity when one accepts the cultural goals and the acceptable ways to achieve them. Innovation, when one accepts the goals, but not the acceptable ways to achieve them. Ritualism, when one rejects cultural goals and accepts acceptable means to reach them. Retreatism, when one rejects both the goals and the means to achieve them. Finally rebellion, when one creates their goals and their way of achieving them. The type of adaptation that is most likely to lead to crime is innovation because these are people who accept and want the goal set by society but reject the institutionalized means of achieving it, therefore, they do whatever it takes to get what they want or need.
             In criminological theory: An analysis of its underlying assumptions, the author quotes Merton: "A cardinal American virtue, 'ambition,' promotes a cardinal American vice, 'deviant beha...