A Study on Anonymous and Anomie

Rebellion is an act of violent or open resistance to an established government or ruler.

Emile Durkheim also mentioned anomie- which is the lack of regulation or breakdown of norms. It is a state of “normlessness”- people do not know where they belong. A disconnect emerges between your desires and what you can have. Masses of people did not feel connected to the whole because of the quick change from traditional to modern societies. According to Durkheim, it was the internalization of social morality. Too many people were not integrated into society, and their capacity of needs were unlimited. Industrialization dissolved restraints on the passions of humans. Traditional societies taught people to control their lives through religion. Modern, industrious, societies separated people through the division of labor. There is no limitation on what we desire or go after. There is social disorganization and too many possibilities. As a result we cannot reach our goals. Durkheim says there has to be a limitation on our wants and desires. In the film we saw people in traditional societies satisfied with what they had because noone around them had more or less. They were on a solidarity

In American society money is seen as the purpose of life, overemphasized. In attaining that money, for some individuals is not always great but the money in the end, the goal, is greater. Success is attainable for everyone which leaves failure to be the fault of the individual. Merton described five modes of adaptation, depending on the individual's attitudes toward cultural goals and institutional means to attain them. The first approach to the adaptation of strain in society is Conformity, the most common. Individuals accept both the goals as well as the advised means for attaining those goals. The last four adaptations Merton described were seen as deviant; Innovation, Ritualism, Retreatism, and Rebellion. Individuals

Merton further developed the concept of ‘anomie’ to describe an imbalance between cultural goals and institutionalised means. He believed that ‘anomie’ was the result from the absence of alignment between people’s socially desired aspirations, such as

The building blocks that construct and support today’s society are mounted on the pillars of delicate norms and precise social standards. Occasionally, as a result of political or economic or social upheaval, anomie lashes out. Anomie often occurs when individuals take a disinterest in the social expectations of society and focus on their own personal gain and interests. This creates a disturbance in the classic order of societies. Communities ignore the colloquial goal of being a cohesive group and begin to rely on their own intuition. The book “Teenage Wasteland” by Donna Gaines classically defines the result that anomie has on societies and individuals.

Thomas Jefferson’s motto, “Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God”, that originates from the Declaration of Independence sparked rebellious characters in U. S. History. Society has delineated the definition of rebel in several ways. Many, in the new era, do not know the history behind the meaning of a true rebel. The definition of rebel has changed in America from patriot in the time of the American Revolutionary war to confederate in the Civil War and to redneck in today’s societal controversy concerning the image of the Confederate flag.

This theory contains five institutionalized means which can be used to achieve success and they include conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion. By analyzing the progression away from the original 1950’s Pleasantville, characteristics of Robert Merton’s Strain Theory being to surface along with the four institutionalized means of achieving the cultural goal. According to Robert Merton’s Strain Theory, deviance is the violation of norms that are held by a group or society. In Pleasantville, the cultural goal of the society was to have the perfect life which was done by avoiding anything that may cause a disturbance, even if that meant suppressing normal human emotions.

Anomie has been defined as "social instability resulting from a breakdown of standards and values; a weakening of the normative order in society or societal normalness; [or] cultural chaos produced when social organization fails to respond to non conformity of its members" (Arrigo, 2006, p. 316). Among the two leading theorists of anomie and its causes are Emile Durkheim and Robert Merton.

At the same time as people continue to disobey social norms and deviate from societal expectations, sociologist draw to five sociological perspectives to explain deviance. From the functionalist perspective, Robert Merton adapted Durkheim’s idea of anomie to explain why people act in certain ways. The anomie theory of deviance states “that people adapt in certain ways either by conforming to or by deviating from cultural expectations” (Schaefer, 2009). According to this theory it can include

In the article 'Hacking as Politically Motivated Digital Civil Disobedience: Is Hacktivism Morally Justified? ' by Kenneth Einar Himma, She argues that the as an electronic civil disobedience, hacktivism is morally impermissible. Kenneth claims that the acts of civil disobedience is not always morally permissible because the nature of it is disobeying the state of the law and it is more expressive than the right to free speech. Then she discusses the framework to evaluate acts of civil disobedience in both sides of favoring and against the civil disobedience. Ultimately, she argues that hacktivism as a kind of electronic civil disobedience is impermissible because of its moral disvalue to the society when applied the evaluation framework to it.

A rebel is a person who resists or defies an authority, as kids there are plenty of authorities in your life. It’s a known fact that young kids don’t like authority because it doesn’t let them live their lives like they want. So what happens when a kid gets really angry at a principle or teacher, kids can retaliate by rebelling against their rules. This can be the simple start of a life of crime because the kids will meet others like they are which will lead them into gang life.

One type of rebellion is when a child or teenage goes against the rules set in order to find out what is wrong with going against the rules. To illustrate, a child walks into a candy store with his mother. He is in shock

With the transition from Feudalism to Capitalism came a different set of norms and values by which to live. The transition from old to modern society was a very complex and relatively quick one. The people had to adapt to this quick and unclear change of the society. Because the transition was very difficult to make, many people lost their way in between. They became confused. The peoples’ state of confusion according to Durkheim is termed anomie.

Merton’s Anomie Theory believes that society shapes the cultural norms and values of people and also their aspirations and the approved methods of achieving such aspirations. Merton considers that there is a link between anomie in society and the difference between the levels of emphasis placed on aspirations and those placed on the means of realizing these aspirations in society; the smaller the difference the less likely anomie will occur. Merton also believes that crime is caused by society although he believes it is not useful to society; Merton believes that crime is a representation of the poor organization of society. In American culture, monetary success is the predominant cultural goal, but not everyone has the same access to attain it. Some people respond to this disjunction in criminal ways. Components of adaptation to strain include conformity which is when people embrace conventional social goals and also have the means to attain them, they can choose to conform. They remain law-abiding.

To complement his theory, Merton established five modes of adaptation of how an individual responds to the schism between societal goals and means. The constructed ‘American Dream’ ideal links with strain and the issue of inequality, as it can lead individuals to attain the culturally accepted goals through illegitimate means that violate social norms (Cuzzort, 1969). The first reaction is Conformity, where the individual subscribes to the goal and the conventional means of society, and therefore does not generate anomie (Morine, 2009). The second is Ritualism, where the goals are not accepted as they do not believe they can reach them, but the means are abided. The failure of ritualists to conform fully to the ideal of success translated though money means this could trigger anomie (Morine, 2009). Thirdly, Innovation involves the goals being accepted but the methods to attain them are rejected. This reaction would most likely involve illegitimate methods to reach the goals. Retreatism is the fourth, where the refusal of both societal goals and means occur, however this is not regarded as anomie as they do not illicit contradictory norms. Lastly, Rebellion furthers Retreatism by substituting new goals and institutional means to create a more