Institutional Anomie Theory

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Institutional Anomie Theory
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How much do we trust other people?
3
People will lie if they can get away with it.
Agree
All Students 89.9
Males 90.0
Females 88.4
Nation 60.0
Kanter and Mirvis (1989)
4
People claim to have ethical standards but few
stick to them when money is at stake.
Agree
All Students 81.0
Males 90.0
Females 76.7
Nation 62.0
Kanter and Mirvis (1989)
5
An unselfish person is taken advantage of in
todays world.
Agree
All Students 92.1
Males 100.0
Females 88.4
Nation 50.0
Kanter and Mirvis (1989)
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Family
Education
What institutions in society encourage us to look
out for ourselves? For one another?
Economy
Politics
Religion
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Messner and Rosenfeld (1994)Institutional Anomie
Theory

• Institutional balance of power
• Economy, family, education, polity
• Institutional anomie (imbalance)
• Economic values permeate and weaken other
  institutions and their social values
• Increases anomie sense of normlessness
• Reduces social controls over behavior

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Institutional Anomie Theory
Economic values penetrate non- economic
institutions
Communitarian values and social bonds
are weakened
Social controls over behavior are reduced
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Institutional Anomie Theoryin a Nutshell

• Economic values penetrate and weaken non-economic
  institutions leading to lower levels of social
  control over self-serving behaviors, including
  deviance crime

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Policy Implication of Institutional Anomie Theory

• Foster an institutional balance of power
• Strengthen non-economic social institutions and
  the communitarian values they transmit