Robert K. Merton proposed a theory of anomie in contrast to that of Emile Durkheim's. Whereas Durkheim theorized that anomie or deviance is caused by a sudden and major social change, Merton's Strain Theory proposed that anomie or deviance arises from "àa social structure that holds out the same goals to all its members without giving them equal means to achieve them" (Merton's, p. 1). In other words, anomie results from the gulf between what the culture holds out as goals and what the structure of that culture permits.
In Joel Schumacher's Falling Down, we see that Merton's Strain Theory seems to adequately explain the deviance or anomie encountered by and engendered in Bill Foster, as he tries to make his way to his daughter's birthday party. Foster was a well-paid def
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