Merton's work contributed greatly to criminological theory as he adopted a different perspective from Durkheim's concept of anomie and reworked it to adapt it to the American context. The theories and concepts of anomie and tension advocated by Merton influenced Cohen's works as well as the New Theory of Deviance and the New Penology. Therefore, Strain theory has evolved over time to encompass different situational circumstances of the crime. Furthermore, due to the inability of the individual to achieve an appropriate cultural status, the idea of ​​reference groups has also been very relevant to today's understanding of crime. The situation of evaluating oneself against peers occurs constantly when people try to improve or compete with others. Durkheim grew up in France during the second half of the eighteenth century, a time when individuals were regulated through the collective consciousness of society that depended heavily on religion, enlightenment, learning, and culture. and Darwinism. It was also a period of great turbulence generated by the French Revolution of 1789 and the industrialization of society, which created the division of labor and specialization between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie (Gold & Bernard, 1986). One of Durkheim's key themes is centered on social solidarity, where the transition from mechanical solidarity and the collective consciousness of the church was punctured leading to the birth of individualization (organic solidarity). Durkheim theorized that if the desire to achieve goals were unlimited, anomie would result due to a lack of normative control, followed by the emergence of tension. The tension would manifest itself in a variety of outcomes, one of which could be deviant behavior (Pfohl, 1994). Since crime was an inevitable product of the tension produced by Robert Merton's theory of social tension: useful in criminology, for understanding anomie and deviance. Retrieved from http://www.suite101.com/Niggli, M. (1994). Rational choice theory and crime prevention. Crime and Crime Prevention Studies, 3, 83-103. O'Connor, T. (2006). Conflict criminology. Retrieved from http://www.drtomoconnor.com/Pfohl, Stephen. (1994). Images of deviance and social control: A sociological history. (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Pratt, J. (2007). Penal populism. London: RoutledgeShoemaker, D. (2010). Theories of delinquency: An examination of explanations of delinquent behavior (6th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.Sztompk, P. (1986). Robert K. Merton: An intellectual profile. Houndmills, UK: Macmillan.Walters, R., & Bradley, T. (2008). Introduction to criminological thought. Auckland, New Zealand: Pearson Education.