Is American Society More Anomic? A Test of Merton's Theory with Cross‐National Data

Despite the pivotal conceptual position of anomie in criminology and sociology, operation‐ alization of the concept remains problematic. This study offers a new operationalization of anomie based on an interpretation of Merton's theory. Furthermore, it provides a test of the anomie theory's premise that Americans are more anomic than peoples in other societies. The data indicates that the mean level of anomie in the United States is not particularly high in comparison with mean levels of anomie in many other societies. It is quite comparable with other English speaking societies, and lower than continental European countries and Latin American countries. The current research contributes to efforts in testing Mer‐ ton's theory with cross‐national data and helps calibrate the measuring instrument of Merton's concept of anomie.

Notes

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1999 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology. I want to thank Thomas Bernard, Mitchell B. Chamlin, Francis T. Cullen, P. Neal Ritchey, and Steven Stack for their helpful comments on the early versions of this paper.

Contact information: Dr. Liqun Cao, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI 48197. Telephone: [phone]. Fax: [phone]. E‐mail: [email protected]