Anomie Theories of Durkheim and Merton

Abstract The theory of anomie has two main theorists: Durkheim, its founder, and Merton, who developed it. However, Durkheim’s theory of anomie is very different from Merton’s. This difference has been largely ignored due to the dominance of Merton’s theory in sociological research. The purpose of this article is to explain these theories and to explore their differences. This article shows that the differences between Durkheim’s and Merton’s theories of anomie are mainly in explaining anomie, precedence and latency of factors, studied societies, origin of aspirations, impact of poverty and class on anomie and scope of explanation. The ignorance of these theoretical differences has led to ambiguities in meaning and differences in the definition and measuring methods for anomie, while each of these theories has distinct capabilities that, by better understanding these differences, can be used to research a range of social issues such as social deviations.