Anomie Durkheim And Merton Essay Research Paper

Anomie: Durkheim And Merton Essay, Research Paper

Anomie: Durkheim and Merton

The classical theorists Marx, Weber, Durkheim reflect on the dark side of modern life. Modernity had profoundly changed the way people lived and the way society was organized. Modernity sees the emergence of the middle class, it is a time when fewer and fewer of the privileged could relax as more and more of the disadvantaged could speak (Lemert, p.15.) In the name of progress, modernity, promising a better world (tomorrow) brings destruction destruction of the old family and small town values (Lemert, p.27.) So there is an ambiguity: the benefits of modern life are not real yet while the familiar traditional life is destroyed.

While some others (like Spencer) saw modernity as a beneficent necessity , a one way street to a better world, Durkheim told the story of the 2 sides of modernity: the official story of progress and the good society and the repressed story of destruction, loss, terror of life without meaningful traditions (Lemert, p.28.)

In Anomie and the Modern Division of Labor, Durkheim introduces the concept of anomie that comes with the rise of modern society. Modernization is marked by an increasing division of labor, a specialized economic activity. By becoming different from each other through their work, individuals become more different in their lives, hence a diminution of the collective conscience and the collective constraint. Individualism replaces the collective conscience. The result is that all this sphere of collective life is, in large part, freed from the moderating action of regulation (p.78.) He argues that with the division of labor, the economic function becomes preponderant and that the administrative, military and religious functions become less important (p.79.) Because the economic world is characterized by an absence of moral laws, and because individuals tend to spend the greatest part of their existence within that sphere, Durkheim argues that the absence of all economic discipline cannot fail to extend its effect beyond the economic world, and consequently weaken public morality (p.79.) This is the description of juridical and moral anomie in which modern society found itself.

In Suicide and Modernity Durkheim expands on the concept of anomie. Whereas he previously described a modern society in a state of anomie, he describes here anomie at the individual level. He portrays a human being with unlimited desires and unattainable goals. The more we have, the more we want (p.83.) Therefore, by pursuing an unattainable goal, we condemn ourselves to perpetual unhappiness.

The remedy is to limit our passions and desires. Durkheim states that society alone can play this moderating role (p.84), because it is the only moral power superior to the individual. He contends that members of a social class, by consensus, know their upper and lower limits; they know what is appropriate for their class. Society fixes with relative precision the maximum degree of ease of living to which each social class may legitimately aspire (p.84.) Of course, these limits are not static, they vary through time and space. Therefore, if (wo)man is docile and respects regulations, an end and goal are set to her passions, and (s)he can be happy. Each person is in harmony with her condition (p.85.) However, this social classification has to be perceived as just by members of society. In normal conditions, the collective order is regarded as just by the great majority of persons (p.86.)

This idyllic state of affairs is upset in times of crisis, whether it is an economic upturn or a downturn. During such times, society cannot fulfill its restraint function and the limits become blurred. In periods of economic downturn, people are cast to a lower class and thus suffer, since society cannot adjust them instantly (p.86.) In periods of abrupt growth, the classifications are disturbed and cannot be reclassified immediately, since time is needed for the public conscience to adjust. So long as the social forces thus freed have not regained equilibrium, their respective values are unknown and so all regulation is lacking for a time (p.87.) This state of incertitude, of deregulation is the state of anomie as formulated by Durkheim, which could lead to suicide. He also notes the immunity of poor country to anomic suicide. Poverty, being a restraint in itself, protects against suicide (p.87.)

The argument of Durkheim is that in our modern societies, anomie can be found in a chronic state, because the regulating and controlling role of religion or of closely-knit communities has disappeared. Nothing has replaced it. Governments (socialist or not) do not want to interfere with the unlimited growth of the markets. The producer has the entire world as his customer (p. 89.)

For Durkheim, the transition from a traditional society, where goals are limited by social order and morality, to a modern society, brings about the emergence of individualism with its plight of unchecked desires, unlimited markets, deregulation, disengagement and unhappiness. Because society is less present in the individual, anomie develops and become chronic, normal.

Anomie, described by Durkheim, this sense of purposelessness and isolation that comes during periods of rapid cultural transition such as the rise of modern society has some similarities to Marx s ter