ANOMIEA common mistake is interpreting Merton as
arguing that an individual chooses to live his or her
life as a conformist, or innovator, or retreatist. To
the contrary, Merton’s position is that we all are
constantly making choices when faced with behav-
ioral alternatives. At one point during the day one
might choose to act as a conformist, but later,
when confronted with another choice, one may
choose to innovate. For example, a person who
engages in robbery, innovation, is not always an
innovator; he or she may also have a job, which
indicates conformity. While one of these choices
may predominate with some people, they should
be seen as alternatives that people choose from in
deciding how to act in a particular instance, not
identities that they assume.
In applying Merton’s perspective to Western
nations, sociologists have argued that most of
these societies are characterized by some degree
of anomie, which manifests itself as a lack of equal
opportunity. The extent of anomie, the degree of
disjuncture between goals and means in a society,
can be used to predict the level of crime and
deviance that society will experience. The high
crime rates of the United States can be linked to
great inequalities in income, education, and job
opportunities (Loftin and Hill 1974). To explain
individual propensity to deviate from norms, one
must consider the extent to which individuals have
accepted the society’s conception of ‘‘the good
life,’’ and the legitimate means individuals can use
to attain it (Cloward and Ohlin 1960). As an expla-
nation of crime, this theory has given way to
different approaches, but anomie has been ab-
sorbed into larger perspectives to explain the rela-
tionship between poverty and crime (Messner 1983).
New Approaches to Anomie. Anomie saw a
theoretical resurgence in the late 1980s and 1990s
(Agnew and Passas 1997), especially in criminological
research. This resurgence first occurred with
Agnew’s (1985) general strain theory and later, with
macro-variations such as institutional anomie (Messner
and Rosenfeld 1994).
Strain Theory. While many have been critical
of anomie and strain theories of the past (Hirschi
1969; Kornhauser 1978), Agnew (1985, 1992) ar-
gues that research in the areas of medical sociolo-
gy, social psychology, and psychology can help
create new directions for this theory. Agnew (1992)
has proposed a micro-level theory; that ‘‘Adoles-
cents are pressured into delinquency by the nega-
tive affective states—most notably anger and relat-
ed emotions—that often result from negative
relationships’’ (p. 48). His extension of traditional
strain theories focuses on more than one form of
strain or anomie. Agnew (1992) suggests there are
three major types of strain that can be experienced
by individuals: strain (1) ‘‘as the failure to achieve
positively valued goals,’’ (2) ‘‘as the removal of
positively valued stimuli,’’ and (3) ‘‘as the presenta-
tion of negative stimuli.’’ This extension of anomie
or strain theories allows our understanding of the
creation of anomie to move even farther away
from that first misconception that it must be con-
nected to wealth attainment.Institutional Anomie Theory. Most research
on anomie has been at the micro-level (Agnew and
Passas 1997). For example, variations such as
Agnew’s general strain theory have ignored the
theoretical implications at the macro-level (Agnew
and Passas 1997; see also Bernard 1987; Messner
1988; Messner and Rosenfeld 1994; Rosenfeld
1989). Institutional anomie theory posits that in
order to understand any social phenomena we
must understand the basics of social organization.
These basics are culture and social structure and
are best understood by their linking mechanism,
social institutions (Messner and Rosenfeld 1994;
Rosenfeld and Messner 1997). Rosenfeld and
Messner (1994, 1997) suggest that social institu-
tions are both interdependent and in conflict with
one another, which leads to a constant, necessary
balancing of institutional demands. According to
Rosenfeld and Messner (1997) the economy is at
the center of this balancing act. Institutional ano-
mie theory helps explain the effect of the domina-
tion of the economy over other institutions by
suggesting that ‘‘economic dominance stimulates
the emergence of anomie at the cultural level,
and... erodes the structural restraints against crime
associated with the performance of institutional
roles’’ (Rosenfeld and Messner 1997, p. 213). Insti-
tutional anomie theory which, up until this stage,
has been used to explain trends in crime, could
successfully be extended to other social phenomena.
Social Psychological Conceptions of Anomia.
Items designed to measure individual feelings of
anomia are now frequently included in surveys
such as the General Social Survey, an annual na-
tional survey conducted by the National Opinion