Question

21 multiple choice 2 points
robert merton says that strain between achieving the cultural goals of material success and ______ to reach that goal in american society can result in criminal offending (fill in the blank)
individual effort
adaptive learning
social action
institutional means
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Explanation:

Robert Merton's strain theory posits that when there is a gap between the cultural goal (material success) and the institutionalized means (socially approved ways like education, legal work) to achieve it, deviance (including criminal offending) can occur. Individual effort is too vague and not a key Mertonian concept here. Adaptive learning is not a term from his strain theory. Social ambition is also not the specific term. Institutionalized means is the correct term as per his theory.

Answer:

Institutionalized means