Immigration, Anomie, and psychopathology

In his monumental study on suicide, Emile Durkheim coined the term “anomie” to describe societies in which norms are unclear, contradictory, or unsuitable to the circumstances of their time. Durkheim focused on the implications that anomie has on the collective, proposing that it might result in anarchy or in the disintegration of the social structure. He argued that societies are obliged to construct a framework to restrict human aspirations to levels which can be attained given the limitations on resources, but that where this framework breaks down, these human aspirations would know no bounds and that the resulting despair would lead to a rise in the incidence of suicide.

Durkheim's concept of anomie was subsequently developed by Merton to provide a generalized theory of deviant behavior. Merton focused in particular on the condition in which a society provided clear enough guidance concerning which goals were socially approved, but gave a relatively little attention to the means by which these goals should be reached. The consequence of this, Merton argued, was that individuals would be minded to use illegitimate means to gain socially approved goals (Adler and Laufer). According to Merton, this phenomenon could be witnessed in relation to one of the core Americans goals, the pursuit of entrepreneurial success: despite the belief embodied in the constitution of the United States that all Americans are created equal, it was evident that the social structure did not provide equal opportunities for all groups. Thus, lower socio-economic groups and various immigrants and ethnic minorities found themselves at a disadvantage in pursuit of the fruits of economic success. In this situation many, perhaps most, of those so disadvantaged came to terms with the circumstances in which they found themselves, but some of them could not accept matters as they are and adopted a variety of responses—innovation, ritualism, retreatism, rebellion, crime—all of which have in com