The Anomie-Deviant Behavior Connection: The theories of Durkheim, Merton, and Srole

In my recent review of the literature on fraud, I I suggested that a critical aspect of the situation involves the concept of anomie. The word “anomie” derives from the Greek word arwmia, meaning lawlessness or “without law,”2 and refers to societal instability resulting from a breakdown in broadly accepted vrdues, as well as widespread personal feAings of uncertainty and alienation. The possible connection between anomie and deviant behavior in science is the most recent factor that led me to contemplate the theme of this essay. But a persistent stimulus has beerr my long-standing knowledge that the work on anomie by the sociologist Robert K. Merton, Columbia University, New York, was not generally known to our readers. I could therefore not resist the challenge to summarize this work in Cswrent