Street Youths and the Proximate and Contingent Causes of Instrumental Crime: Untangling Anomie Theory

2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 413-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen W. Baron
Keyword(s):  
1998 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen W. Baron ◽  
Leslie W. Kennedy
Keyword(s):  

2021 ◽  
pp. 104398622110015
Author(s):  
Thomas E. Dearden ◽  
Katalin Parti ◽  
James Hawdon

As the world becomes increasingly connected and interdependent upon technology, crimes are moving online. Research on cybercrime is beginning to test the applicability of traditional criminological theories for understanding crime in this new medium. Using a national sample of 215 self-admitted cybercriminals, we examine Messner and Rosenfeld’s institutional anomie theory. Negative binomial regressions reveal that expressed levels of institutional anomie correlate with increased cybercrime activity. A curvilinear relationship was found, such that low and high levels of institutional anomie lead to higher levels of cybercrime. Our findings reveal how the dark side of the American Dream can lead to online criminality. Specifically, the penetration of, and accommodation to economic values dictated by American capitalism can lead individuals to adopt values such as the fetishism of money that, in turn, affects their online behavior and criminality.


2021 ◽  
pp. 147737082199685
Author(s):  
Jacek Bieliński ◽  
Andreas Hövermann

Institutional anomie theory (IAT) describes the potentially criminogenic impact of economically dominated social institutions. Although originally cast at the macro level of society, more efforts have emerged lately to capture the IAT framework on the individual level, resulting in a need for appropriate measures representing the presumed marketization processes. Our study addresses this need by offering a theoretically derived, comprehensive measure of the individual-level instantiation of an anomic culture depicted in IAT, that is, ‘marketized mentality’. Structural equation models testing for the single higher-order factor marketized mentality are calculated with a representative random sample of Poland’s population. Finally, the implications and limitations resulting from the analyses are discussed.


1983 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Thomas Dull

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between anomie theory, as measured by Srole's Anomie Scale, and the respondents self-admitted drug use (alcohol, marijuana, tobacco, amphetamines, and barbiturates). An analysis of self-reported drug use data was conducted of a general Texas adult population. This analysis included a series of bivariate cross comparison correlations between the independent variable (anomie) and the dependent drug variables. The relationship between the independent and dependent variables were further examined by calculating the correlation and level of significance within selected categories of several demographic (age, race, sex, education, income, and marital status) control variables. The results indicated that anomie was significantly correlated with several of the drug variables. However, these associations were extremely weak and of little explanatory value. It was concluded that, within the framework of this analysis, anomie theory fails to provide an adequate explanation for the use of drugs.


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