Mertonian Criminology Examines the Characters of Snow Crash

Criminologist Robert Merton’s Anomie theory sheds intellectually significant perspectives on the behavior of the characters in Snowcrash. Anomie theory suggests that it is impossible for all people to legally achieve the American Dream, that of grand economic success. Therefore, there are three sorts of people in the world. First, there are those like Juanita and Da5id, who do in fact have the resources to “fairly” realize the “dream” and use lawful methods to do so. Then, there are those like Hiro and Y.T., who lack the ability to wield societally prescribed means to achieve economic success, and therefore resort to prohibited behavior (hacking) to achieve the normal goals of economic prosperity. Finally, Merton says that there are those who reject not just the societally prescribed means, but also the societally prescribed ends or goals. This is perfectly embodied in Rift’s followers aboard the USS Enterprise, who literally escaped from civilization and its pursuits to go about their lives on the raft. When Merton penned the Anomie, or normlessness, Theory in the early 20th century, he was dealing with a United States that was becoming increasingly centralized around business and cities and decreasingly focused on community values. Author Stephenson was also dealing with a transitioning America that was becoming increasingly digitized. Of course, Merton envisioned that organized crime would be the medium by which those lacking opportunity would find the financial success promised to them by the American Dream, while in Snowcrash the Metaverse (though Hiro is a hacker and still technically a criminal) is this medium, giving nearly everybody the ability to simply program or buy the self they wanted to see (avatars). Unsuprisingly, both works seem to be extra critical of Capitalism, as is especially evident in Stephenson’s exaggerated commercial anarchist dystopia.