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Социальная структура в трех теориях аномии
Вестник Томского государственного университета. Философия. Социология. Политология. 2015. Т. 29. № 1. С. 176-184.
Lytkina E.
The article addresses E. Durkheim’s, R. Merton’s anomie theories and the institutional anomie theory of S. Messner and R. Rosenfeld. The focus of the article is on how social structure is applied within these anomie theories and how it advances from a secondary topic in Durkheim’s work into a key element of Merton’s theory. I also address the shortcomings that Messner and Rosenfeld’s institutional anomie theory has due to the lack of development of the issue of social inequality. Addressing the
relationship of anomie and social structure helps show an alternative prospect to analyze and compare anomie theories as well as enables to reveal broader possibilities of application of social structure to studying anomie in contrast to the widespread empirical practice in anomie studies to restrict the social structure to income, social status, etc. (as Srole 1956, Dean 1961). According to Durkheim’s approach, the social structure adjusts people’s aspirations to a normal level for each social class. In Merton’s view, in the situation of overemphasis of goals of success the social structure itself creates the strain for the lower social class representatives to deviate. Messner and Rosenfeld on the contrary claim that all societal layers have the strain to anomie due to the dominance. of the economy over other institutions. Social structure has a most important role in Merton’s theory. It also demonstrates a serious shortcoming in the institutional anomie theory: if one assumes the dominance of monetary goals at the institutional level, it should lead at least to inequality at the level of the institutes for different population groups: ones will have the opportunity to take care of own children and give them traditional education, others won’t. Interesting to note, the issue of the normative regulation, which works, according to Durkheim, via the social structure is not addressed by other theories. Merton analyzes a situation of a normative conflict between the goals and the means, but not anomie (Gofman 2013, pp. 31-32). The problem of social regulation is hardly an issue for Messner and Rosenfeld: regulation should be constituted by institutes. Thus, in the situation that those are dominated by economy, there is a laissez-fair principle reigning in the society. Moreover, the usage of anomie by the authors seems to serve as a means for the institutional theory as a macro-level theory to separate itself from the strain theory, which is in terms of Messner and Rosenfeld a micro-level perspective.
Research target:
Sociology (including Demography and Anthropology
Priority areas:
sociology
Language:
Russian