THE VIRTUES AND VICES OF THE AMERICAN DREAM

In their text crime and the American Dream, M essner and Rosenfel attempt to addressanoften neglected component of Merton’teory of “social structure and anomy”, namely why the united stares has such a high rate of crime. Messner and Rosenfel present an “institutional anomic” theory, which address the issue of anomic at the societal level. Like Merton,Messner and Rosenfeld seek to explain the excessively high rate of crime in the united states. They accomplish this goal by pointing to the “American Dream”. Messner and Rosenfeld draw heavily from Merton’s anomie theory, asserting that the high rate of crime in the united states stems partly from the fact that oursociety encourages everyone to pursue the goal of monetary success but places little value on the legitimate means for achieving that success. In other words, the legitimate, culturally accepted norms are sacrified for the goal itself, which becomes larger than life. However, Messner and osenfeld also extend Merton’s theory. Primarily,they maintain that the cultural emphasis on monetary success parallels the notion that the economy pervades and dominates every other institution in America, including the family, education, and polity. They argue that the dominance of the economy interferes with the proper functioning of these institutions to such a great extent that they can no longer effectively and adequately socialize individuals or even sanctions deviant behavior. Messner and Rosenfel argue that if other aspects of American life were emphasized over material success, the United States might not have such a high crime rate. They point to the mixed economies of wester Europe and Japan as examples of societies tha ensue that a level of economic well-being is not completely dependent upon economic performance, as it is in the Unites States. Although their “institutional anomie” theory is still undergoing empirical testing, their theory provides important consideration of societal differences in crime rates. Additionally. Their approach forces Americans to answer some tough questions about the core values that underline the American Dream. In other words, maybe we should ask whether this emphasis placed on monetary success(seemingly, by any means necessary) is something we really want for our society.