Durkheim's Theory of Social Order and Deviance: a Multi-level Test

Þórlindsson, Þórólfur; Bernburg, Jón Gunnar

doi:10.1093/esr/jch025

Cited by 79 publications

(94 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Arguably because of this, different researchers have focused on slightly different conceptualizations, ranging from an absence of norms, a collapse of the regulatory system and contexts characterized by a legal and moral vacuum (see Willis, 1982). For instance, anomie has often been referred to as a state of "normlessness" (e.g., Clinard, 1964;Passas, 1995;Thorlindsson & Bernburg, 2004). However, Meštrović and Brown (1985) reject this interpretation on the basis that it presents anomie as an individual-level phenomenon rather than a state of society (also for a similar argument see Meštrović, 1987).…”

Section: Durkheim's Theory Of Anomiementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The operationalization of anomie as an individual level construct presents anomie as a state of mind: a set of beliefs, feelings and attitudes in the individual's mind (Davol & Reimanis, 1959;McClosky & Schaar, 1965). The operationalization of anomie as a state of mind has associated anomie with a tendency of individuals to be self-interested (Konty, 2005), normless (Baumer, 2007;Bjarnason, 2009;Menard, 1995), isolated and lonely (Fischer, 1973;Martin, 2000;Srole, 1956), having a felt sense of meaningless (Martin, 2000;Thorlindsson & Bernburg, 2004), and having a felt sense of purposelessness or powerlessness (for reviews, see Bjarnason, 2009;Form, 1975). As a result, the scales that focus on anomie as a state of mind suffer from the problem that the anomie scale is identical to the psychological outcomes that it is intended to predict, thus potentially overlooking the anomie concept itself (Bjarnason, 1998(Bjarnason, , 2009Form, 1975;Hilbert, 1986).…”

Section: Empirical Examinations Of Anomiementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous research has shown that anomie is associated with a sense of meaninglessness (Thorlindsson & Bernburg, 2004), a lack of self-esteem and belonging (see Srole, 1956), a lack of meaningful connection with society (Durkheim, 1897(Durkheim, /1987, a belief that the world is dangerous and threatening (Hilbert, 1986) and, since nothing is certain at both a personal and collective level (Bjarnason, 2009), compromised personal and collective control.…”

Section: Micro-level Behavioral Responses To Anomiementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In general, these approaches to anomie revolve around a psychological state that can be characterized as a tendency to be selfinterested (Konty, 2005), to reject social norms (Baumer, 2007;Bjarnason, 2009), or to feel estranged or isolated from society (Fischer, 1973;Martin, 2000;Srole, 1956). In this conceptualization, anomie may also include a sense that life is meaningless (Martin, 2000;Thorlindsson & Bernburg, 2004), where feelings of purposelessness or powerlessness dominate (for reviews, see Bjarnason, 2009;Form, 1975).…”

Section: Anomie: the Concept And Its Measurementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Anomie has been associated with a sense of collective helplessness (Martin, 2000;Thorlindsson & Bernburg, 2004) and collective hopelessness (Ådnanes, 2007;Leger, 1980). Some have argued that anomie reduces confidence in society, lowering perceived cohesion (Durkheim, 1897(Durkheim, /1987Orru, 1983;R.…”

Section: Convergent Validity: Studies 2a and 2bmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Psychology of Anomie

Teymoori¹

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In sociology, anomie refers to a state of society characterized by chaos, the eroding of social regulation and moral values. Drawing upon recent developments in psychology, this thesis presents an analysis of anomie as a psychological construct. More specifically, this thesis aims to develop: a) a psychological conceptualization of anomie, b) a psycho-social analysis of the processes through which anomie leads to psychological outcomes, c) a social psychological conceptualization of individuals' responses to a high anomie contexts, d) a valid and reliable scale to measure anomie, and e) a cross-cultural examination of predictions that are derived from our conceptual framework of anomie.First, we present a historical overview of theoretical and empirical work on anomie (Chapter 2). The historical overview helps us to identify the contentious areas and longstanding problems in anomie literature requiring further development. We extend the theorizing on anomie by developing a psychological conceptualization of anomie (Chapter 3). As a psychological construct, we define anomie as the collective subjective perception about the state of society encompassing two conditions: the breakdown of social fabric (i.e., lack of trust and moral decline) and the breakdown in leadership (i.e., lack of legitimacy and effectiveness). This third chapter also examines individuals' responses to anomie. This is important to overcome the limitations of existing literature which typically conflates anomie with its outcomes. We argue that the primary psychological effect of anomie is the failure to satisfy four fundamental human needs including a need for a meaningful life, a need for self-esteem, a need to belong, and a need to have a sense of personal and collective control.We argue that there are two key responses to an anomic situation: a contraction of the personal self and a contraction of the social self. Contraction of personal self describes the detrimental consequences of anomie for personal well-being and the way it propels individuals to adopt control-restoring strategies such as authoritarianism. Contraction of social self refers to withdrawal from, and disidentification with, the superordinate group, thereby influencing the way individuals engage and interact with their social world. We argue that contraction of social self manifests itself as tribalism, a response whereby individuals withdraw from superordinate groups (trust becomes bounded) and turn to smaller groups on which they project familial ties.In order to enable an empirical examination of the conceptual framework of the psychology of anomie, we first develop a new measure, Perception of Anomie Scale (PAS, see Chapter 4). We operationalize anomie as a perception of the state of society encompassing two dimensions: perceived breakdown of social fabric and perceived breakdown of leadership. We present the evidence for the validity of the newly developed scale of PAS across six studies. Studies 1a (N = 199, first year psychology students from Australia) and 1b...

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Section: Durkheim's Theory Of Anomiementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Empirical Examinations Of Anomiementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Micro-level Behavioral Responses To Anomiementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Anomie: the Concept And Its Measurementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Convergent Validity: Studies 2a and 2bmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Psychology of Anomie

Teymoori¹

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The Chicago School and Criminology

Hardyns¹,

Pauwels²

2017

The Handbook of the History and Philosophy of Criminology

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War experiences and emerging rights claims in postwar former Yugoslavia: The role of generalized conflict exposure and collective anomie

Spini

Morselli

Elcheroth

2018

Euro J Social Psych

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Violent conflicts have often been observed to generate social environments in which human rights violations are more easily tolerated and legitimized. However, recent research has documented cases in which communities exposed to violence react with increased condemnations of human rights violations. In this article, we focus on the distinction between generalized and particularized violence. Our findings show that, in the postwar ex‐Yugoslavia context, when local communities have been exposed to violence that was generalized across different ethno‐national groups, they strongly condemn human rights violations. Multilevel structural equation models show that the relationship between generalized victimization and the condemnation of human rights violations is mediated by a collective sense of anomie. The processes that move from collective exposure to violence to the collective reaffirmation of human rights are more likely to unfold in communities where violence transcended group boundaries than in communities where particular groups were disproportionately affected by the violence.

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Durkheim's Theory of Social Order and Deviance: a Multi-level Test

Cited by 79 publications

References 36 publications

The Psychology of Anomie

The Psychology of Anomie

The Chicago School and Criminology

War experiences and emerging rights claims in postwar former Yugoslavia: The role of generalized conflict exposure and collective anomie

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