The Concept of Anomie by Émile Durkheim’s

Anomie
According to Durkheim, an anomic society is one in which rules of behavior (i.e., values, customs,
and norms) have broken down or become inoperative during periods of rapid social change or social
crisis.

Mechanical solidarity
A characteristic of a preindustrial society that is held together by traditions, shared values, and
unquestioned beliefs.

Organic solidarity
Postindustrial social systems, which are highly developed and dependent upon the division of labor;
people are connected by their interdependent needs for one another’s services and production.

The roots of strain theories can be traced to Émile Durkheim’s notion of anomie (from the Greek a
nomos, “without norms”). According to Durkheim, an anomic society is one in which rules of
behavior (i.e., values, customs, and norms) have broken down or become inoperative during periods
of rapid social change or social crisis such as war or famine. Anomie is most likely to occur in
societies that are moving from a preindustrial society, which is held together by traditions, shared
values, and unquestioned beliefs (i.e., mechanical solidarity) to a postindustrial social system, which
is highly developed and dependent upon the division of labor. In this modern society, people are
connected by their interdependent needs for one another’s services and production (i.e., organic
solidarity). The shift in traditions and values creates social turmoil. Established norms begin to erode
and lose meaning. If a division occurs between what the population expects and what the economic
and productive forces of society can realistically deliver, a crisis situation develops that can manifest
itself in normlessness or anomie. This condition can be found in modern day Russia as it shifts from a
Communist system to a free enterprise system without the social support and guarantees the
population has come to expect.
[1] Anomie undermines society’s social control function. Every society works to limit people’s goals
and desires. If a society becomes anomic, it can no longer establish and maintain control over its
population’s wants and desires. Because people find it difficult to control their appetites, their
demands become unlimited. Under these circumstances, obedience to legal codes may be strained,
and alternative behavior choices, such as crimes, may be inevitable.