Which deviant adaptation involves rejecting the goals and the means and instituting new ones?

• A. Rebellion
• B. Innovation
• C. Ritualism
• D. Retreatism

Answer: (A)

In Strain Theory, people respond to the mismatch between culturally approved goals and the legitimate ways to achieve them. Rebellion is the mode where individuals reject both the current goals and the established means, and they substitute a new set of goals and new means—often aiming to create a different social order. This differentiates it from other adaptations: innovation pursues the same goals through new, possibly illegitimate means; ritualism clings to means without pursuing the goals; retreatism abandons both goals and means by withdrawing; conformity accepts both. So the idea of instituting new ones points squarely to rebellion.