Anomie: Concept, Theory, Research Promise

Anomie: Concept, Theory, Research Promise Max Coleman Oberlin College Sociology Department Senior Honors Thesis April 2014 Table of Contents Dedication and Acknowledgements 3 Abstract 4 I. What Is Anomie? Introduction 6 Anomie in The Division of Labor 9 Anomie in Suicide 13 Debate: The Causes of Desire 23 A Sidenote on Dualism and Neuroplasticity 27 Merton vs. Durkheim 29 Critiques of Anomie Theory 33 Functionalist? 34 Totalitarian? 38 Subjective? 44 Teleological? 50 Positivist? 54 Inconsistent? 59 Methodologically Unsound? 61 Sexist? 68 Overly Biological? 71 Identical to Egoism? 73 In Conclusion 78 The Decline of Anomie Theory 79 II. Why Anomie Still Matters The Anomic Nation 90 Anomie in American History 90 Anomie in Contemporary American Society 102 Mental Health 120 Anxiety 126 Conclusions 129 Soldier Suicide 131 School Shootings 135 III. Looking Forward: The Solution to Anomie 142 Sociology as a Guiding Force 142 Gemeinschaft Within Gesellschaft 145 The Religion of Humanity 151 Final Thoughts 155 Bibliography 158 2 To those who suffer in silence from the pain they cannot reveal. Acknowledgements: I would like to thank Professor Vejlko Vujačić for his unwavering support, and for sharing with me his incomparable sociological imagination. If I succeed as a professor of sociology, it will be because of him. I am also deeply indebted to Émile Durkheim, who first exposed the anomic crisis, and without whom no one would be writing a sociology thesis. 3 Abstract: The term anomie has declined in the sociology literature. Apart from brief mentions, it has not featured in the American Sociological Review for sixteen years. Moreover, the term has narrowed and is now used almost exclusively to discuss deviance. This project explores Durkheim’s original use of the term, and whether modifications of his work—by Merton, Parsons, and others—are useful or muddling. We also present critiques of the term, evaluating them in light of Durkheim’s intentions. Possible explanations for the decline of anomie theory are given, including academic explanations (e.g., classical sociology was replaced by newer theories like symbolic interactionism) and political explanations (e.g., Durkheim’s functionalism became too “conservative” for the New Left). Finally, we argue that the United States is a highly anomic nation, with its focus on freedom, eternal striving, and self-advancement. We apply a Durkheimian perspective to contemporary issues like mental illness, exploring rising rates of depression, anxiety, and suicide as a consequence of these anomic conditions. 4 Freedom, however, is not the last word. Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth. Freedom is but the negative aspect of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is responsibleness. In fact, freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness. —Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning Let us even recognize that in a general way liberty is a delicate instrument which one must learn to handle; and let us train our children accordingly. —Émile Durkheim, “Individualism and the Intellectuals” 5 I. WHAT IS ANOMIE? Introduction Anomie. Over a century after the term was introduced, sociologists have yet to unravel its mystery. It is a concept inextricable from the field that produced it—tied to the very origins of sociology itself. Anomie has been much maligned, much misunderstood, but the assumptions it carries lie at the heart of the discipline. To broach the term anomie is thus to invoke all of sociology. And to ignore the term is to wipe our intellectual ancestors into the dust. But sociologists have grown tired of anomie theory; indeed, they are embarrassed by it. The term implicates sociology in many academic movements we wish to put behind us: functionalism, positivism, and conservatism, among others. To study anomie is to remind us of our ignoble origins, which—we continue to insist—no longer represent the field. Consequently, anomie theory has declined in recent decades. A search of the American Sociological Review finds that the term has not been used in sixteen years. What happened? Perhaps by tracing the genealogy of the term, we may begin to understand its downfall. Yet before I begin with the birth of the concept, I would like to consider its death. The following is a quote from sociologist Philippe Besnard, an expert on anomie theory. Besnard writes: It is better to get rid of anomie. The time to register the death of this centenarian seems to have come. We have done more: we have built it a tomb which some will judge too monumental. But could one throw the “sociological concept par excellence” into the pauper’s grave? This tomb appears to us to be on the scale of the illusions that have surrounded and fed the use of this slightly magical vocabulary whose sorcery we hope to have dispelled, and which we would like to write for the last time: anomie (Besnard 1987: 388, cited in Meštrović 1988a: 837). This quotation, I am amused to report, appears at the end of a 424-page book dedicated to anomie theory. Apparently Besnard felt the term so utterly useless that it deserved a weighty 6 tome all its own. This bizarre quotation illustrates how contentious anomie has become—at once magical and marginal, at times the “sociological concept par excellence” and at times an elder on its deathbed. Anomie is a very old term. The word entered the English language in 1591, and in the next century became associated with a “disregard for divine law” (Midgley 1971: 37). Émile Durkheim himself became familiar with the term through philosopher Jean Marie Guyau, but “after reviewing Guyau’s work, Durkheim coined his own definition of anomie in exact opposition to Guyau’s” (Orrù 1990: 232). After a period of disuse, the term resurfaced in the 1930s in the works of Elton Mayo, Talcott Parsons, and Robert Merton. The 1950s saw a heavy backlash against anomie theory, since it was associated with functionalism and therefore seen as conservative. But the term revived itself, again, in the work of criminologists and psychologists, who used anomie to explain deviance and “disaffection,” respectively (Borgatta & Montgomery 2000: 165). Today, even those passionate movements are beginning to dissipate: the word has seen fewer and fewer mentions every year since 1993.1 Besnard’s death sentence may be entirely superfluous; anomie theory is dying of its own accord. But as I will argue throughout this paper, anomie itself has only continued to rise. In the United States, where limitlessness is a cardinal virtue, rates of depression and anxiety have reached unprecedented heights. As the sociologist Jean Twenge observes, major depression has increased tenfold in the past century: only 1–2 percent of people born before 1915 in the U.S. had a major depressive episode; that number is 15–20 percent today (Twenge 2006: 105). In fact, the United States now has the highest depression rate in the world.2 Anxiety disorders are even 1 Google Books Ngram Viewer, English language search. 2 “Mild and Bitter” (2009). The Economist. http://www.economist.com/node/13899022 7 more prevalent: affecting 40 million Americans (18 percent of the U.S. population), they constitute the most common mental illness in the nation.3 Anomie affects not only our mental health, but our behavior: as we shall see, rates of mass shootings, soldier suicides, and other disturbing practices are on the rise. While social constraint produces “happiness and moral health,” as Durkheim argued4, the anomic condition leads to a great deal of avoidable suffering. It is my contention that anomie theory is declining at the precise moment it is most needed. Put another way, the term is losing its place in the literature just when its explanatory power is greatest. Indeed, I worry that as anomie worsens in the United States, anomie theory— which presupposes a critique of freedom and individualism—will become increasingly unpopular. Ideas, as Marx would have it, are tied to dominant ideologies; as the cult of the individual gains strength, it is sure to infect academia as well as popular culture. The goal of this paper is to revive anomie theory. Barring this lofty feat, I hope to at least suggest some contemporary uses for the term, including (as I have already said) mental illness, school shootings, and soldier suicide. I will begin with Émile Durkheim’s description of anomie—focusing particularly on The Division of Labor in Society (1893) and Suicide (1897). After this close reading, I will consider expansions of the term, especially Robert Merton’s famous essay, “Social Structure and Anomie” (1938). I will also consider critiques of anomie theory, evaluating them in light of Durkheim’s original analysis. Finally, I will explore why the term has declined, why it is still useful, and how it can be revived. I will end with Durkheim’s own solutions to the anomic crisis. 3 Anxiety and Depression Association of America, Facts & Statistics: http://www.adaa.org/about-adaa/press- room/facts-statistics. 4 Cited in Lukes 1977: 83 8 Anomie in The Division of Labor Durkheim’s first major work, The Division of Labor in Society, presents the most famous understanding of anomie. This fame is unfortunate, since Durkheim elaborated the concept in later works, and to read only this book gives a very narrow understanding of the term.5 In this book—which was also his dissertation—Durkheim focuses primarily on economic anomie. Here Durkheim “treats anomie as a consequence of economic upheaval, people not knowing what rules apply across the business cycle of boom-bust-boom-bust” (Sennett 2006: xix). Durkheim is particularly concerned with the “anomic division of labor.” As society progresses, jobs become specialized, and individuals rely on each other for specific social functions.

Load more