The Pearl 2020

Roads Less Travelled
Caleb Rigdon
In 1938, the sociologist Robert Merton offered a famous theory to
explain the existence of crime. He posited that people are heavily influenced
by a society’s goals and means of reaching those goals. In the United
States, the goal is the American Dream, which emphasizes the idea of
monetary wealth: in order to be successful in life, we must make lots of
money. How individuals go about achieving that ambition is what separates
them into distinct groups.
The first is made up by those who accept both the goal and the
means of obtaining. These people want to make lots of money, and they
do it in ways we’re taught are acceptable. They go to work every day, they
save, they have stock investments, they have a 401(k)—these are the conformists.
There are also individuals who accept the means of making money,
but they have long given up on the goal of becoming wealthy. These are
the folks who go to work, day in and day out without hope of becoming
rich. They are the workforce zombies, simply going through the motions
they chained themselves to when they accepted their prison. They don’t
find joy in their work lives, and they certainly do not see it as the highway
to wealth, but they don’t really care—these are the ritualists.
Next are the people who want the American Dream just like anyone
else, but do not agree to the means that society says are legitimate
ways of obtaining wealth. Instead of working to make money, they deal
drugs, they steal and fence items, they traffic humans, they murder their
spouse for the insurance policy. These are the criminals, driven to their
deeds because they want to buy nice things.
Merton calls the criminals innovators, people who see their problems
and work outside the typical realm of thinking in order to achieve
their goal. They think creatively, much the same way a successful CEO or
inventor might, they just do it illegally (not that CEO’s can’t do illegal
things). Being inventive and forward-thinking and different than the average
person is another part of the American Dream, and by painting criminals
in this light, Merton lays respect at their feet for thinking laterally, for
being different.
The final group consists of those who reject both the means and
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