Modernization, formal social control, and anomie: A 45-society multilevel analysis

Abstract

This article investigates how economic modernization affects normative regulation by spurring formal social control in the political, economic, and private spheres as well as anomie. Multilevel negative binomial regression modeling, using World Values Survey and country-level data from 2005, predicts individual-level anomie using country-level formal-social-control indicators as well as individual-level controls. Such control variables include education, survey interest, gender, age, income, collectivism, nihilism, fatalism, and the diversity of information consumption. This work argues for and implements a ‘don’t know anomie’ (DKA) index, the sum of ‘don’t know’ responses in relation to 15 attitudinal questions, as a more direct measure of individual-level anomie. Findings indicate that, when controlling for all factors, a country’s level of formal social control in the political sphere, measured as low levels of perceived government corruption, reduces anomie. In addition, country-level formal social control in the private sphere, operationalized as a society where individuals are not primarily striving to meet their parents’ expectations, enhances anomie.

El papel de los medios de comunicación en situaciones de crisis sanitaria. La percepción de la población en torno al control y las normas sociales durante la pandemia del COVID-19

“…Y es que, en palabras de Gitlin (1980), los gobiernos y fuerzas de seguridad podrían manipular ciertas situaciones para reinsertarlas en nuevos contextos para que así la sociedad perciba y legitime una "realidad" plagada de subjetividades. Los medios de comunicación como sistemas cardinales que son para la distribución de ideologías, comportamientos y normas (Swader, 2017), habrían tenido una mayor influencia en los rangos de edades comprendidos entre los 26-39 y los 40-55 años. El análisis de los datos también muestra que son estos dos grupos de edad los que muestran mayores índices de ansiedad y miedo al estar confinados en casa.…”

“…Según Swader (2017), el control social es el modo en que las normas sociales influyen en el comportamiento de las personas, de manera que el comportamiento de estas viene marcado por procedimientos burocráticos, normas y el poder policial. Otras estrategias de control social incluyen también el uso de sistemas de control como las cámaras de vídeo vigilancia o los Sistemas de Posicionamiento Global (Global Positioning System, GPS).…”

Community-Society Equilibrium: Religious Organizations in the Service of a Secular State

“…This shift was accompanied by urbanization and the replacement of emotional connections by more business-like communication, in which financial interests are involved (Tjora and Scambler 2020 ). This transformation was accompanied, in the view of other scholars, by an anomie that reflects these dynamic and emerging social norms (Swader 2017 ). Studies that focus on neighborhood watch organizations suggest that forming a collaboration between police and civic policing organizations can increase police legitimacy and assist in public order issues, but also combat the anomie of modern society (Uhnoo and Hansen Löfstrand 2018 ; Fennelly et al 2020 ).…”

Adaptation and Validation of the Perception of Anomie Scale in Chilean University Students

“…Current evidence indicates that anomie is directly related to social unrest or social discontent [ 15 , 21 , 22 ], violent extremism [ 23 ], inequality [ 15 , 24 , 25 , 26 ], moral polarization [ 27 ], social control [ 28 ] and control in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic [ 29 ], greed [ 30 ], as well as higher divorce rates [ 31 ]. At the political level, it was found that the greater the deregulation (a dimension of anomie), the greater the support for proposals pertaining to protectionism and economic redistribution [ 32 ] as well as to prosocial behaviors [ 29 ], and greater support for extreme positions on the right and left [ 32 ].…”