In 2011, the Occupy Wall Street movement drew large numbers of people to New York City to protest rising income inequality. To make their point, these protestors marched on the city streets, built tent cities where they lived and slept while the demonstrations were ongoing, and actively worked to disrupt the flow of life. In Robert K. Merton’s view, these people would be what kind of deviants? a. rebels b. innovators c. retreatists d. ritualists

According to Robert K. Merton Deviance Typology, there are 5 types of deviance, represented on the picture below. These five types center on the differences there can exist from the acceptance of cultural goals and the means to achieve them.

Let's break them down:

Conformity: general acceptance of the goal and way to achieve it.
Innovation: acceptance of the goal and rejection of tradition, looking for different ways to achieve it.
Ritualism: rejecting the goal but tending to routines in order to achieve it.
Retreatism: rejection of the goal and the traditional way to achieve it.
Rebellion: rejection of the goal and tradition to achieve it but try to replace both the goal and the society.

In this case, the protest was agains income inequality by camping in the street and trying to disrupt the flow of life. It can be concluded that these protestors are labelled as rebels by Merton's view because they reject the income inequality and are trying to replace this element and the tradition, by disrupting with the flow of life.