SOC 201 Chapter Notes - Chapter 11: Egotism, Anomie
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More specifically, as a result of his analysis, durkheim argued that as societies grew larger, more complex, and more specialized, the things that traditionally had held people together would begin to fail. As the division of labor became specialized, people began to do different kinds of work; these differences meant that some people achieved a financial success that took them far from their original lifestyles. However, although people could technically improve their social class standing, they did not know any of the norms that accompanied their new stations in life. No longer was there a great deal of agreement on what values were most important and on which norms applied to whom. Durkheim identified several sources of suicide, including egoism and anomie. Each is a manifestation of a different kind of structural strain. Egoism occurs when people are not well integrated into society. In a state of egoism, people lack ties to their social groups.
