Final answer:
The term 'Innovator' in Robert Merton's strain theory aptly describes someone who uses illegitimate means like bank fraud to obtain wealth, demonstrating the gap between societal goals and accessible, legitimate means.
Step-by-step explanation:
In Robert Merton's strain theory, the term 'Innovator' correctly describes a person who gets rich by defrauding a bank. Merton's strain theory posits that society sets up certain cultural goals like financial success, but not everyone has the legitimate means to achieve these goals. The term 'Innovator' in Robert Merton's strain theory aptly describes someone who uses illegitimate means like bank fraud to obtain wealth, demonstrating the gap between societal goals and accessible, legitimate means.
An individual who, due to limited legitimate opportunities, resorts to unconventional or illegal methods, such as fraud, to achieve financial success encapsulates the 'Innovator' response to strain. Innovators use their creativity to achieve socially approved goals through disapproved, often criminal methods, reflecting the disjunction between valued cultural ends and legitimate societal means to those ends.