When the punk movement emerged in the mid-1970s in both the United States and the United Kingdom, it spanned areas such as fashion, music and youth mentality, becoming its own kind of subculture. However, this movement can also be considered a form of social deviance when viewed through the lens of Robert Merton's theory of anomie. This deviance stems from the antisocial and unconventional nature of the movement's members in response to the socioeconomic tensions of the middle and lower classes. Therefore, the punk movement can be classified as a combination of two types of adaptation to the Merton strain, including withdrawal and rebellion, due to the subculture's rejection of capitalist values, withdrawal from the workforce, and apathetic attitude. concept of anomie, the punk movement can be explained as a sort of adaptation to social tension. According to Merton's theory, anomie is a situation in which “individuals are unable to obtain the legitimate, institutionalized means of achieving socially approved cultural goals that connote success” (Palmer, 31). That is, there is a discrepancy between the social need to achieve success, especially the American Dream, and the means to achieve this success. This happens when the desire to achieve socio-economic success has become so strong and ingrained in society, that the individual feels that this is what he must achieve at any cost. At this point, the discrepancy between the means and the goal occurs. of factors including class, education, employment and poverty or financial stability situation. In all these cases, it is poverty or low economic status, lack of education, low level employment that contribute to... middle of paper...Muggleton, D. (2000). Internal subculture: postmodern meaning of style. Oxford: Oxford International Publishers Ltd.Palmer, S. (1990). Deviant behavior. New York: Plenum Press.McCaghy, C. H., Capron, T., Jamieson, J. D., Carey, S. (2008). Deviant behavior: crime, conflict and interest groups. United States: Pearson Education Inc. Moyer, I. (2001). Criminology. Traditional and non-traditional voices and themes. United States: Sage Publications.Moore, R. (2004). Postmodernism and punk subculture: cultures of authenticity and deconstruction. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.stevenlaurie.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/moore-punkauthenticity.pdf&chrome=trueClark, D. (2003). The Death and Life of Punk: The Last Subculture. Retrieved from http://utoronto.academia.edu/DylanClark/Papers/32839/The_Death_and_Life_of_Punk_The_Last_Subculture