Robert Merton's structural strain theory sees deviance as the result of a person's position in a social structure. What do you think Jack Katz, author of Seductions of Crime, would say about structural strain theory

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Social Studies

Rocco

12 December, 08:13

Robert Merton's structural strain theory sees deviance as the result of a person's position in a social structure. What do you think Jack Katz, author of Seductions of Crime, would say about structural strain theory

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Annabella Bartlett · Answer 1

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Jack Katz, in Seductions of Crime, explains his theory (based on personal experience, since he was arrested multiple times) that people do not commit crimes such as felonies for money, but for the experience it self, the "sensuality" of the crime. He does not deny the patterns in traditional backgrounds factors, like Robert Merton's theory, as he states that some factors in the ghetto experience makes people more likely to be seduced by these crimes. But he understands that the background is not actually the cause of these crimes. For him, what is necessary is the idea of the seduction that crimes causes in people. Money is just a consequence that brings some status, specially in these societies where people are praised as "badass", but not the actual reason for the crime, according to the author.