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The Place of Sexual Murder in the Classification of Crime
Published in Louis B. Schlesinger, Sexual Murder, 2021
For instance, Wolfgang’s (1958) comprehensive study of 588 homicides in Philadelphia between 1948 and 1952 detailed numerous social and environmental factors associated with murder, and most of these relationships are relevant today. Merton (1957) specifically pointed to social breakdown and feelings of “anomie” as major contributors to crime and homicide. Other theorists have investigated the relationship between crime and economic depression (Gibbons, 1968), and also, paradoxically, the increase in crimes and homicides sometimes noted in periods of economic prosperity (Cohen and Felson, 1979).
Toxic Wild West Syndrome
Published in J. Michael Ryan, COVID-19, 2020
Dinur Blum, Stacy L. Smith, Adam G. Sanford
Related to social control, Durkheim’s (1951) concepts of anomie and egoism help explain the public response to COVID, from fear to recklessness. Anomie refers to a situation in which social regulation has broken down into normlessness, and old ways of acting fail. The unexpected situation means that people struggle to find rules that work in order to maintain some sense of order and control over their lives. The COVID pandemic has made certain prosocial behaviors dangerous, including large gatherings and baring one’s face in public due to the way the virus spreads through droplets in the air. Everyday norms of behavior must be suspended and replaced in order to adapt to a rapidly shifting public health situation. Egoism can be an effect of anomie; it refers to a lack of belonging and a heightened sense of isolation. An anomic society lacks community regulation, whereas in an egoistic society, individuals seek independence instead of interdependence, valuing the self over society. If anomie is a lack of regulation by a community, egoism is a lack of integration into a community.
Key Sociological Concepts
Published in Gerry R. Cox, Neil Thompson, Death and Dying, 2020
The second sense of anomie is on a broader level. Societies are constantly changing, evolving structures, frameworks of meaning, and so on. New attitudes toward death and dying are slowly emerging, and this can leave people unsure at times of how to react. For example, in a context of modern societies becoming increasingly multicultural and diverse, a member of the caring professions seeking to support a dying or grieving person from a cultural background different from their own may have a steep learning curve in terms of finding out what is acceptable and expected in that particular context. SPIDER: Social expectations, while problematic at times, act as a sort of social glue bringing about social cohesion. Anomie can arise when it is not clear what the social expectations are.
The Societal Context of School-Based Bullying Victimization: An Application of Institutional Anomie Theory in a Cross-National Sample
Published in Journal of School Violence, 2023
James Tuttle, Gregorio Gimenez, Beatriz Barrado
Some scholars have elaborated upon IAT to explicate the social-psychological characteristics of anomie. As Konty (2005) argues, the cultural elements of anomie result in “microanomie,” which is a value system that promotes self-interest over the collective well-being. Similarly, Groβ et al. (2018) have developed the concept of “market mentality” to operationalize IAT at the individual level. Market mentality emphasizes economic role functions, success, individualism, and monetary-fetishism, all of which place self-interest above considerations of the community. The values promoted by microanomie (or “market mentality”) may produce “frustration, anger and fear when these interests are blocked or unavailable” (Konty, 2005, p. 124), resulting in higher rates of crime and deviance. Additionally, the egoistic values imparted by a cultural emphasis on market competition and lack of altruism (see, Chamlin & Cochran, 1997) indicated by a meager social safety net provide the social and cultural context for conflict and predation based upon self-interest. Therefore, societies that possess a greater degree of balance between economic and non-economic institutions should exhibit cultural values that are less prone to microanomie or market mentality (Hövermann & Messner, 2021).
Changes in society and young people’s mental health1
Published in International Review of Psychiatry, 2021
In this section we broaden the picture to consider disruptions in social cohesion and solidarity that may be raising anxiety and depression. The general proposal that social cohesion is a protective factor for individual level of stress is common in current social epidemiological theory (Marmot, 2010), but has a history since the beginning of social science in Emile Durkheim’s work on social factors in suicide (Durkheim, 1897/1952; Parsons, 1937). Hypothesized protective mechanisms involve stability in basic social categories and practices that enable an individual to have enough certainty and sense of control, agency or autonomy, over salient outcomes. Risk mechanisms conversely: instability leads to uncertainty and perceived lack of control, raising risk of anxiety and depression. Durkheim proposed a typology of social organization, but also theorized the penetration of these social factors into aspects of individual personality, relevant specifically to suicide and related conditions of depression and anxiety. Our main interest here is Durkheim’s Anomie type, which etymologically refers to absence of laws or norms. Social Anomie is a type of social organization characterized by breakdowns of social regulation and group control, implying a problematic, stressful ‘freedom’ for the individual (Durkheim, 1897/1952, p. 241f.; Parsons, 1937, p. 334f.; Wray et al., 2011, p. 521.)
Drug-Using Behaviors of Turkish Armed Forces Service Members: A Social Control Perspective
Published in Military Behavioral Health, 2020
Suheyl Gurbuz, Muhammed Yildiz, Celia Lo, Ozgur Solakoglu
Deviant behaviors and mental health disorders are relatively more prevalent among service members compared to their civilian counterparts (Tekbaş et al., 2003; Ünlühisarcıklı 1994). That prevalence may well spring from the demanding new environment young service members enter—the adoption of a completely new way of life with strict discipline and a heavy workload of physical nature. The unique environment of military service features a hierarchic structure that does not take personal, social, or cultural differences into consideration; as well, the armed forces largely segregate themselves from each other and from the remainder of Turkish society (Ünlühisarcıklı, 1994). Conscripted military personnel lose such social supports as family, spouse, and friends (if temporarily). Their introduction to military life entails mastering many physical and social standards absent from their civilian pasts. Not infrequently, they develop anomie, a state of ambiguity and uncertainty in social life (Thorlindsson & Bernburg, 2009). Although military environment has many norms, rules, and standards they do not always necessarily reinforce integration and regulation for service members. Anomie is not only limited to a state of normlessness but it also refers to a state of ambiguity and uncertainty in social life, which is very common among nonprofessional service members serving their mandatory military duty (Tekbaş et al., 2003; Ünlühisarcıklı, 1994). Any or all such factors can reinforce deviant behaviors like drug use, making drug use an especially significant problem in the military setting.