Anomie and Strain Theory

Anomie theory provides an explanation of the concentration of crime. The theory leans heavily on the work of one of several founders of sociology, Emile Durkheim, who used the term anomie to describe the lack of social regulation in modern societies as one manner that could elevate higher suicide rates. Robert Merton, a criminologist that applied Durkheim's definition of anomie to modern industrial societies with emphasis towards the United States, specifically, redefined the term. According to Merton, anomie is the form that societal incoherence takes when there is a significant detachmen…