Anomie refers to the environment state where the society fails to exercise adequate regulation over the goals and the desires of its individual members. Durkheim agrees that the Modern American society is predominantly anomic. It is of great importance to note then Durkheim assumption of anomie is based on a general assumption about the psychological or the biological nature of human beings. From Durkheim’s viewpoint, individual happiness and well-being depend on the ability of the society to impose external limits. Under the influence of anomie, the society is however not in a position to exert its regulatory as well as disciplinary influences (Bernburg, 2002). Human desires are therefore left unchecked and unbounded. Out of dissolution and despair associated with the pursuit of limitless goals many individuals in the iconic modern society take their lives. Therefore, the high rates of anomic society are a consequent of the environmental condition of anomie.
In particular, Durkheim was concerned that the transition from mechanical to organic solidarity, an evolutionary shift from the traditional to the modern industrial was an anomic process. Durkheim conception of anomie is set in the context of his theory of social evolution. Te theory of social evolution is among his initial works. The division of labor in society whereby he distinguishes between the two different types of social organization the mechanical solidarity and the organic solidarity.
Mechanic solidarity is a more traditional form of social organization, and it does not have a developed structure that would qualify to be called society. In the modern sense of the world, it is based on the similarity of individuals who share the uniform way of life and have identical belief system. On the other hand, Durkheim saw that in the large complex societies that the type of solidarity was warning. In the large modern societies, the labor is specialized, people do not necessarily engage in the same work or share the same ideas or beliefs. For Durkheim organic solidarity is the type of solidarity where each person is independent of each other resulting in the formation of a complex web of cooperative societies.
In such situation, solidarity comes into being not from each person doing the same thing but rather form each cultivating a different thing keeping in mind that it is for the good of the whole. Durkheim argument was that increasing specialization, as well as individuation in the modern society, does not necessarily result in the decline of social cohesion. Rather Durkheim argues that increasing specialized labor in the society result in a different type of social cohesion.
According to Durkheim, organic solidarity does not emerge automatically in the modern societies. It arises when the division of labor is voluntary and spontaneous. For the labor, division to have solidarity it is necessary that the task is fitting. Industrial revolution as well creates tension as well as turmoil (Hilbert, 1886). Periods of rapid social change will see individuals experience a lot of alienation from their group goals as well as values. Individuals will lose sight of their interests. In such a condition, they become less constrained by the influence group norms. Normative values in such a context become more of generalized rather than being personally embraced.
The developments in labor division that are associated with industrialization bring the anomie. As time goes, the repetitive routines somehow makes the workers lose the intellect of their responsibilities in the production process and consequently they become less committed to the processes of organization.
References
Bernburg, J. (2002). Anomie, Social Change and Crime. A Theoretical Examination of Institutional-Anomie Theory. British Journal Of Criminology, 42(4), 729-742. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/bjc/42.4.729
Hilbert, R. (1986). Anomie and the Moral Regulation of Reality: The Durkheimian Tradition in Modern Relief. Sociological Theory, 4(1), 1. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/202102
