negative aspects of crime : anomie and egoism

Durkheim’s view of crime

Durkheim states that too much crime has negative impacts. excessive crime could be the result of two problems with the collective conscience - anomie and egoism.

anomie

anomie occurs when there are periods of great social change or stress, and the collective conscience becomes unclear. during a revolution or rapid economic and social change, the old norms and values may come under challenge without new norms and values being established. during this situation, there is uncertainty over what behaviour should be seen as acceptable.

egoism

occurs when the collective conscience simply becomes too weak to restrain the selfish desires of individuals. it occurs in industrial societies where there are many specialist jobs so that people have very different roles in society. if individuals are not socialised to accept collective values (eg. through education) they can end up putting their own selfish interests over societies,

countering egoism and anomie

Durkheim states that strengthening the collective conscience (eg teaching moral values in education) will counter egoism and anomie. however, when not done effectively, crime rates can become excessive.

Merton’s view of crime

Merton stated Durkheim’s original idea of crime was too vague and then provided the foundation for the development of subculture theory.