A Student Was Asked the Following Question: "Briefly List and Explain

Multiple Choice

A student was asked the following question: "Briefly list and explain the basic forms of adaptation in Merton's anomie theory of deviance". As an answer, the student wrote the following: Merton argued that conformity to social norms involves acceptance of both the overall societal goal and the approved means to acquire the goal; the innovator accepts the goals of society but pursues them with means that are regarded as improper; the ritualist has abandoned the goal of material success and become compulsively committed to the institutional means; and finally the retreatist who feels alienated from the dominant means and goals and may seek a very different social order. How would you judge this student's answer?

A) Excellent (all stages are correct in the right order with clear and correct explanations)
B) Mediocre (one or two stages are missing, or the stages are in the wrong order, or the explanations are not clear, or the explanations are irrelevant)
C) Unacceptable (more than two stages are missing and the order is incorrect and the explanations are not clear and/or they are irrelevant)
D) Good (all stages are correct in the right order, but the explanations are not as clear as they should be)