Emile Durkheim on Anomie - Essay Example

I believe that we have two consciences. The social conscience binds us to our group, while the individual conscience makes us distinct as persons. Our side is like Freud’s ego which seeks immediate gratification of all our wants and desires. It does not have moral boundaries. This is our side that turns into “anomie.” Anomie, however, is not an inner breakdown due to inner choices or desires alone. Anomie is largely a product of a disruptive modern industrial society that has high levels of division of labor (Bernburg 729).

I believe that anomie has two sociological dimensions. On a macro level, social forces develop abnormal conditions that develop a precarious life, such as warfare and civil conflicts (Tiryakian 120). On a micro level, work and solidarity become meaningless, and instead of providing growth opportunities, they degrade our human nature (Tiryakian 120). Anomie is the opposite side of solidarity, and we must study it because it shows sociological pathologies (Tiryakian 120).

Besides these dimensions, I want to talk about the main causes of anomie. The first cause is the division of labor (Elwell). A high level of division of labor decreases an individual’s ability to identify with his community, and this weakens social controls’ hold on human behaviors (Elwell). Such conditions generate social “disintegration” that manifests through egocentric behaviors, violation of norms, and lower trust in the legitimacy of the government (Elwell). Only social forces outside the person can control these desires and self-interests (Elwell). I call them a collective conscience, a fundamental social bond that corresponds to the ideas, norms, beliefs, and ideologies of a culture (Elwell).

Since the collective conscience comes from society, weakened social ties weaken the collective conscience (Elwell). In The Division of Labor, I determined two kinds of solidarity. The first kind is mechanical solidarity, or “solidarity which comes from likeness and is at its maximum when the collective conscience completely envelops our whole conscience and coincides in all points with it” (Elwell). This is characterized in early societies wherein the division of labor is low and societies are homogenous in terms of tasks, experiences, and activities (Elwell). The second kind is organic solidarity. It is the by-product of the division of labor. A society that increases in complexity enhances the specialization of roles and dissimilarity in social experiences, material interests, values, and other aspects of culture (Elwell). Individualism increases at the expense of the collective conscience (Elwell). Social bonds become weaker and social values and beliefs lack the power they have to guide us. The loosening of these social bonds creates anomie. The second cause of anomie, thus, is the development of rapid social changes.

Without social constraint, individuals become guided purely by self-interests. They will seek to gratify all their needs and desires without thinking about their effects on other people. Anomie happens because social bonds have lost their control over individual moral behaviors due to rapid social changes that decrease people’s similarity in experiences and cultural norms, beliefs, ideologies, and behaviors. Anomie happens because the individual is morally lost without his collective conscience. Read More