Reminders & Passage on "Anomie"

REMINDERS: BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS BLOG POST WHICH DESCRIBES OUR FIRST FAMILY ACTIVITY -- MAKING UP MIDTERM EXAM QUESTIONS. WE ARE GOING TO BE DOING JUST THAT THIS WEEK IN PREPARATION FOR OUR MIDTERM EXAM NEXT WEEK THURSDAY, MARCH 25TH.
Also, we'll begin to talk about Chapter 5 on Marx and Engels, after I make some final comments about Durkheim.
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Passage on "Anomie": Last Thursday (3/11) I quoted the following passage from a different theory text than the one we are using. It is a good overview of the condition of "anomie," which Durkheim first talked about in The Division of Labor in Society:

"In general, the anomic state of modern society has led to a relatively unrestrained citizenry, wherein people primarily look out for their own interests and have disregard for those of others....The individual's social part, Durkheim insisted, is just as natural to humans as their individual (self-interest) part. The problems of modern society are due NOT to a basically anti-social human nature but to the structure of contemporary society, which does not adequately nurture, develop, and sustain the individual's socially oriented part."

Of course, as I also noted in class, "anomie" is often simply defined as "a condition of normlessness or a breakdown of moral guidelines." In the context of the above passage, such a breakdown Durkheim felt unleashed the forces of individual egoism which undermine the development of "organic solidarity."

PLEASE INCORPORATE THE ABOVE PASSAGE AND COMMENT IN YOUR NOTES.

See you tomorrow, and, again, be sure to check out the description of the family exercise on making up midterm exam questions.