Anomie theory. How has Emile Durkheim contributed to the development of anomie theory? What was his empirical study about? How does his study explain anomie?

Anomie Theory
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Anomie Theory
How has Emile Durkheim contributed to the development of anomie theory? What was his empirical study about? How does his study explain anomie?
Emile Durkheim is a renowned French sociologist whose contributions are still being utilized in today’s society. His demystification of certain aspects of society has helped shape the way people live and continue to influence the world. It was while studying the ways of life that Durkheim stumbled upon the anomie theory. It should be noted that he is the one who introduced the term anomie. The term anomie simply means a state of no social or ethical standards. To offer an explanation of the anomie theory, Durkheim made use of the social division of labor that was happening at the time as well as the rising suicide rates. In his two books The Division of Labor and Suicide, Durkheim seeks to communicate a concept or idea that soon became the center of studies done by people like Robert Merton.
While explaining anomie through society’s occupational roles, Durkheim indicated that specialization was a source of cooperation that led to an interdependence whose eventual effect was solidarity (Mark, 1974). However, as Durkheim further explained, there are certain forms of division of labor that can be considered abnormal particularly the ones that do not produce or lead to solidarity. Apparently, the cause of the above as he explained was the lack of rules that would cause groups to work together. Division of labor denotes the presence of divided functions. So, without rules, there comes some sort of deficiency in social interaction that ultimately causes a dysfunction. The above is indicative of a state of anomy because such is “impossible wherever solidarity organs are sufficiently in contact or sufficiently prolonged” (Durkheim, 1933 (translated version)).
Aside from using the study of the division of labor to explain anomie, Durkheim also made use of suicide. It should be noted that this came some years later. In explaining anomie using his study of suicide, Durkheim sought to showcase that the greater th...