Anomie
Definition
A condition in which social norms weaken or become contradictory, leaving individuals without clear moral guidance. First used by Durkheim to describe periods of rapid change; later adopted by Merton to describe a chronic disjunction between cultural goals and available means.
- Originator
- Emile Durkheim
- Later developed by
- Robert Merton
- Core idea
- Weakened or contradictory social norms
- Merton's addition
- Gap between cultural goals and legitimate means
- Field
- Criminology, sociology of deviance
Common questions
How did Durkheim's use of anomie differ from Merton's?+
Durkheim used it to describe a society-wide breakdown of regulation during rapid social change, such as industrialisation, while Merton narrowed it to a structural strain felt by individuals who are taught to want success but denied fair access to the means of achieving it.
What is strain theory's link to anomie in explaining crime?+
Strain theory builds on Merton's anomie to argue that when legitimate paths to culturally valued goals are blocked, some individuals adapt through illegitimate means, including crime, rather than abandoning the goal or the norms outright.
Related terms
- General Strain Theory (GST)
- Robert Agnew's 1992 reformulation of strain theory. GST identifies three sources of strain: failure to achieve positively valued goals, removal of positively...
- Innovation (Merton)
- One of Merton's five adaptations: accepting the culturally approved goal (financial success) while rejecting legitimate means and substituting illegitimate ones. Merton identified...
- Institutional Anomie Theory (IAT)
- Messner and Rosenfeld's macro-level extension of Merton (1994). IAT argues that societies in which the economy dominates all other institutions produce high...
- Retreatism
- One of Merton's five adaptations: rejecting both the culturally approved goal and the legitimate means, withdrawing from the competitive social order altogether....
- Strain
- In criminological theory, the pressure or frustration produced when individuals cannot achieve goals through legitimate means, or when they experience loss or...