Academic quote of the day

[kat_lair]

Strain Theory, old and not without limitations, but still relevant.

“... actual advance toward desired success-symbols through conventional channels is, despite our persisting open-class ideology, relatively rare and difficult for those handicapped by little formal education and few economic resources. The dominant pressure of group standards of success is, therefore, on the gradual attenuation of legitimate, but by and large ineffective, strivings and the increasing use of illegitimate, but more or less effective, expedients of vice and crime. The cultural demands made on persons in this situation are incompatible. On the one hand, they are asked to orient their conduct toward the prospect of accumulating wealth and on the other, they are largely denied effective opportunities to do so institutionally. The consequences of such structural inconsistency are psycho-pathological personality, and/or antisocial conduct, and/or revolutionary activities. The equilibrium between culturally designated means and ends becomes highly unstable with the progressive emphasis on attaining the prestige-laden ends by any means whatsoever. Within this context, Capone represents the triumph of amoral intelligence over morally prescribed "failure," when the channels of vertical mobility are closed or narrowed in a society which places a high premium on economic affluence and social ascent for all its members. This last qualification is of primary importance. [...] It is only when a system of cultural values extols, virtually above all else, certain common symbols of success for the population at large while its social structure rigorously restricts or completely eliminates access to approved modes of acquiring these symbols for a considerable part of the same population, that antisocial behavior ensues on a considerable scale. In other words, our egalitarian ideology denies by implication the existence of noncompeting groups and individuals in the pursuit of pecuniary success. The same body of success-symbols is held to be desirable for all. These goals are held to transcend class lines, not to be bounded by them, yet the actual social organization is such that there exist class differentials in the accessibility of these common success-symbols.” (Merton, 1938: 679-80, emphasis as original)

Ref.
Merton, R.K. (1938) ‘Social Structure and Anomie’, American Sociological Review 3(5): 672-682.

Comments

[new-kate.livejournal.com]

You'd think almost a century of great scientific and humanitarian advancement would have made some sort of a difference, right?

[kat-lair.livejournal.com]

You would think that yes, but alas, humanity is very good at making things better with one hand and making them worse with the other. Advancement by definition tends to leave some people behind, as depressing as that is.

[starbuck-a-dale.livejournal.com]

I worrk that I am not quite sober enough to properly take in all of that text above right now, but I sure am sober enough to get the gist. And thanks for posting it! I'm practically a living testament to it.

(though I am super responsible and in a vanilla career these days)

[kat-lair.livejournal.com]

Glad you found something in the extract that spoke to you, particularly at personal level. I think the most powerful experiences of academia have been those when a theory or study has made me look at my own life, choices and behaviours, or those closest to me, and go 'oh. oh that makes sense now'.

And heh, so you found legitimate means to achieve the culturally prescribed goals? If you are interested then look up Merton, Strain Theory and his five modes of adaptation, makes for some intriguing reading whether or not you end up agreeing with it.

[starbuck-a-dale.livejournal.com]

Heh, yep. It would definitely have fallen under the 'vice' category, but it was all above board in the legitimacy stakes. Just stuff I wouldn't tell my work colleagues about ^_^

Thanks for the reading tips - I'll make a point of looking them up!

[iniq.livejournal.com]

There really are no coincidences...

The spectacle not only expands the profits and power of the capitalist class but also helps to resolve a legitimation crisis of capitalism. Rather than venting anger against exploitation and injustice, the working class is distracted and mollified by new cultural productions, social services, and wage increases. In consumer capitalism, the working classes abandon the union hall for the shopping mall and celebrate the system that fuels the desires that it ultimately cannot satisfy. But the advanced abstraction of the spectacle brings in its wake a new stage of deprivation. Marx spoke of the degradation of being into having, in which creative praxis is reduced to the mere possession of an object, rather than its imaginative transformation, and in which need for the other is reduced to greed of the self. (85)

Best, Steven and Douglas Kellner. "From the Society of the Spectacle to the Realm of Simulation: Debord, Baudrillard, and Postmodernity." The Postmodern Turn. New York and London: Guilford, 1997. 79-123.



Most of the texts I'm reading on consumer society and capitalism never go into what happens when people are not simply not satisfied by the objects of desire they are presented with, but when they don't have the opportunity to amass all those objects of desire. But then... it's the humanities. And we all know the humanities don't actually have anything to do with real life. :p

[kat-lair.livejournal.com]

Interesting,

Most of the texts I'm reading on consumer society and capitalism never go into what happens when people are not simply not satisfied by the objects of desire they are presented with, but when they don't have the opportunity to amass all those objects of desire.

because this is exactly what a lot of criminological literature with this particular slant looks at, saying that crime and disorder is what happens when people are denied legitimate opportunities to gain what the society tells them they ought to possess.

[iniq.livejournal.com]

... I just used strain theory in my paper and quoted that article. :D

Ah, I've got 1 page left to write and I have NOTHING more to say. It's ridiculous! I've read a thousand (slight exaggeration) articles. For weeks I've been trying to find a topic for that paper and now that I've got a sort-of-good one, I can't fulfill the page quota. :/

At least it's an interesting topic. I'm defending the existence of the subject in postmodernist literature. Fuck everyone who claims there is no individual left. I say there is. At least there can be, if one looks at it from a certain angle. I feel like I'm writing an anamorphic paper here. Ignore that theory and it works. Don't ignore it, and I'm basically writing something one can wipe one's ass with.

But all those great theorists do that... they just ignore whatever someone said they don't agree with. And then they call each other neo-conservative.... whatever the Situationists called Baudrillard. he just wanted to be part of the club! And Barth, that bastard, even quotes All the world's a stage and doesn't bother to add a citation. I guess he can do that... the great John Bath who'd rather have no fun in a funhouse than admit that literature is still awesome. As if Funhouse is such a great story!

XD Sorry~ I'm a bit frustrated.


I do hope you're having a great Sunday. I just wanted to drop in to say thanks for the coincidence! That article was really helpful!

[kat-lair.livejournal.com]

Lol, you just ramble at me there. I can nod knowingly at the right places even if much of what you said is well out of my area of expertise :D

Glad the article was helpful! How awesome is it that you could bring something across disciplines and make it relevant :D