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Anomie

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Emile Durkheim wrote about the concept of anomie. Anomie is when the state of normal behavior and societal norms, or how society is expected to conduct themselves, become unclear or confused. This concept was one that stated that when in a place of hardship, such as financial hardship, people were more likely to commit crimes, commit suicide or be otherwise “defiant.” Whether it is during an area of great hardship or great prosperity, anomie can occur. When jobs are hard to come by, and people are financially strained, they may turn to crime. It is possible that people are breaking into foreclosed houses, which are very prevalent in some areas, after the housing market crashed, and take the copper plumbing. They steal the plumbing and sell it for money. The houses are vacant, so the person breaking in might feel that they are not really stealing from anyone in particular. When Durkheim alleges that if we didn’t have deviants we would create them, I would like to present the example of marriage. In the early 1900’s marriage was a lifelong commitment, only to be broken by death. Since that time the divorce rate has gone up 700%! This is alarming, but divorce has become a very accepted deviant in today’s society. Of course there are some very rare times where there is abuse in the marriage and the spouse must leave because they are in fear of their life, and I am not referring to those instances. I feel that more often than not divorce is looked at as an “easy out.” People end a marriage because “they do not love them anymore…” the truth of the matter is you just do not fall out of love. Marriage takes work, and every day is not going to be wonderful. I feel that people, instead of getting a divorce, need to change their perception of marriage. It is not the “fairytale” we were brought up thinking. Marriage is about having unconditional love, and

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