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StjepanG. Mestrovic
Durkheim'sconceptof anomieconsidered
as a 'total'socialfact*
ABSTRACT
568
StjepanG. Mestrovic
In his Sociology
andPsychology,6
Durkheim'snephewand collaborator,
Marcel Mauss, developsthe notion of the 'total social fact'. Though
Durkheimdid not use this precisephraseMaussassumes,and I think
correctly,that Durkheimimplied it consistently.7It is a notion that
flowsout of Durkheim'sconceptof homoduplexand his epistemological
position.Or, as Mauss put it moreprecisely,it assumesa homoduplex
withinthe homoduplex.That is, objectand subjectare two antagonistic
parts of a dualism, but the subjectis also dividedinto a homoduplex,
psychologicalrepresentationsversus'the body'.Durkheimelaborated
on these subjects especially in his essays entitled 'Individual and
collective representations',8'The dualism of human nature and its
social conditions'9and in TheElementary
Formsof theReligious
Lifel
thoughMaussis moresuccinct.In TheForms,he claimedthat the concept of 'totality'is the most importantyet neglectedof philosophical
categories.llIn TheDivisionof Labor,he warnedagainstthe compartmentalizationof science into particulardisciplines and specializations without regardto their interrelatedness.t2
Thus, accordingto
Mauss, Durkheimiansociology 'presupposesthe combinedstudy of
these three elements: body, mind and society'.13 He elaborates
In reality. . . rarelyor even hardlyever . . . do we findman divided
into faculties. We are always dealing with his body and his
mentality as wholes, given simultaneously and all at once.
Fundamentallybody, soul and societyare all mixedtogetherhere. .
. [these are]the phenomenaof totality.l4
Mauss illustratesthe total social fact with referenceto the study of
language,RobetHertz'sdistinctionbetweenthe rightand left,voodoo
death and Durkheim'sSuicide among many other referencesto his
own works. Because his referencesto these works and studies are
fleeting,and presupposethat the readeris familiarwith the bulkof the
work of the Durkheimians,we shall fill in part of what Mauss
apparentlybelievesis obvious.
For example, the Durkheimianconceptualizationof languageas a
Durkheim
's concept
of anomieconsidered
as a 'total' socialfact
569
StjepanG. Mestrovic
570
Durkheimneverusedtheword'normlessness',noris thereanysupport
for reading anomie as 'normlessness'historically,contextuallyor
linguistically.Rather,Durkheimreferredto anomieas a painfulstate
of dereglement.29
Dereglement
is a worddifTicultto translateinto English.
Literally,it meansderangement,and it connotesa kindof immorality
and madness. In this paper, the manner of reading anomie and
de'reglement
as total social facts will be made explicit.Durkheimunderstoodanomieas a total social fact in at least three
differentways. First, it definitelypresupposesthe conjunctionof the
sociological, psychological,and physiological.Second, it connotes
madness and immorality,which are themselves total phenomena.
Third, it assumes that the individual'sphysiologicalinstinct of selfpreservationis weakenedby anomie.
On the social level of analysis,anomieis literallya derangementof
collectiverepresentations,a situationin which moralsand standards
are 'upside down' [renverse'l
such that the 'lower'pole of homoduplex
rulesover the 'higher.'30In the vocabularyof Schopenhauer whom
as a 'total' socialfact
Durkheim
's conceptof anomieconsidered
571
572
SbepanG. Mestrovic
The organic-ptychic
temperamentmost predisposingman to kill
himselfis neurastheniain all its forms.Now today neurastheniais
ratherconsidereda mark of distinctionthan a weakness.In our
refinedsocieties,enamouredofthingsintellectual,nervousmembers
constitutealmost a nobility.40
To put it anotherway, neurastheniais only 'part'of the 'total'social
factof anomie.It is an excellentsummaryof what anomiefeelslikeon
the psychologicaland physiologicallevels; but without the social
dimensionit is not a full explanationof how anomieresultsin suicide.
Halbwachsemphasizesthat Durkheimgives a complicatedaccount
of society's role in the genesis of neurastheniarelative to suicide.
Indeed, Durkheimwrites
The hypercivilizationwhich breeds the anomic tendencyand the
egoistic tendency also refines nervous systems, making them
excessivelydelicate;throughthis very fact they are less capableof
firmattachmentto a definiteobject, more impatientof any sort of
discipline, more accessible both to violent irritation and to
exaggerateddepression.4
Thus,
A given numberof suicidesis not foundannuallyin a social group
just because it contains a given numberof neuropathicpersons.
Neuropathicconditionsonly cause the suicides to succumbwith
greaterreadinessto the current.Whencecomesthe greatdifference
betweenthe clinician'spoint of view and the sociologist's.42
Without a doubt, positivisticmethodologieshave not accountedfor
the complexityof Durkheim'sargumentabove.
The second aspect of reading anomie as a total social fact that
Mauss only touchesupon has to do with its connotationsof madness
and immorality. Mauss writes: 'The absence of social instinct,
immorality,amorality,have long been a sure sign of a certainkindof
madness'.43Again, Mauss seems to assumethat the readeris already
apprehendingde'reglement
in its standardmeaningsof immoralityand
derangement.Perhapswhat he means is that in anomie the social,
psychologicaland physiologicalaspectsof beinghumanare deranged
to the extent that what is abnormalis acceptedas normal,what is
pathologicalis tolerated. Madness reigns, only most people cannot
recognizeit becausethey have alreadybeen influencedby it to some
extent. Dereglement
is not the absence of norms;rather,it is itself a
derangednorm, a pathology-producing
regle.Thus Durkheimwrites
The passionfor infinity[anomie]is commonlypresentedas a mark
of moral distinction, even though it cannot so appear except in
derangedconscienceswhich establish as a rule the derangement
Durkheim's
concept
ofanomie
considered
asa 'total'socialfact
573
from which they suffer. Since this disorderis at its apex in the
economicworld it has most victims there.44
Another telling passage which implies the derangementof human
natureis the following
Yet these dispositions[towardanomie] are so inbred that society
has grownto acceptthemand is accustomedto thinkthemnormal.
It is everlastinglyrepeatedthat it is man's nature to be eternally
dissatisfied,constantlyto advance,withoutreliefor rest, towardan
indefinitegoal.45
The third aspect of anomiethat Mauss exposeshas to do with the
'thanatomania'to whichhe refers,all themodernvariationsof'voodoo
death' in which the physiological 'instinct of self-preservation'is
weakened.Mauss'sbriefexamplesof this 'thanatomania'are 'mythomania, legal folly, fanaticismand groupvendetta,the hallucinations
of the funerarycult'.46Accordingto Mauss, this 'thanatomania'
. . . will enable us to see in detail what is to be made of the instinct
for self-preservationin man: to what degree it is dependent on
society and can be denied by the individualhimselffor an extraindividualreason.What I shall presentto you will reallybe a study
of human 'morale'(as the Englishsay); in it you will see how the
social, the psychologicaland the physiologicalare mingled.47
Mauss never quite deliverson this promise.At least he never spells
out the connectionshe mentions. What can be surmisedfrom his
commentsis that anomieliterallyweakensthe will to live. It is like a
loss of moralein combat,or the temporaryyet deep depressionthat
sometimesaccompaniesmourning.In a sense, he intimatesa medical
dimension to de'reglement
(which is consistent with its dictionary
meanings). Because anomie is such a fundamentalderangementof
society and of the motivesof its individualmembers,individualsare
more prone to give up on life in times of stress, figurativelyand
literally.
Durkheim'sanalysis of anomie doescarry this third dimension,
though it has been overlooked.In Suicidehe argues that 'poverty
protectsagainstsuicidebecauseit is restraintin itself3.48
Povertydoes
not necessarilyweaken the desire to live. But 'financialcrises' and
'crises of prosperity'unleash the limitless, indefinitewill. 'Because
they are crises,' he continues,'that is, disturbancesof the collective
order', they are disturbancesof equilibriumin individuals,and as
such increasethe 'impulseto voluntarydeath'.49In the vocabularyof
Maussand the total socialfact,Durkheimis sayingthat all de'reglements
affect the organisms's fundamental instinct of self-preservation.
Elsewhere,Durkheimis still more explicit,writingthat in anomie
574
G. Mestrovic
Stjepan
could the
Effortgrows,just when it becomesless productive.How
undersuch conditions?50
desireto livenot be weakened
in which
tremendouspathos, Durkheimdescribesthe manner
With
disappointment,
anomiebrings about weariness, disillusionment, bringson still
turn
in
which
random,
at
grope
and a tendencyto
pain
physiological
othercrises, among many other psychological and
'intolerable'.5l
seems
until life itself
disturbances
a total social
These three dimensionsof apprehendinganomie as captured by
factillustrate the rich texture of the concept not
'Normlessness'impliesdeviance,but not madnessor
'normlessness'.
does. 'Normlessness'cannot explain
which dereglement
immorality,
behavior in
whyanomie should lead to suicide or self-destructive
why
explains
general.But the dimension of the total social fact
it
curses,
inherentlyimpels individualsto death:like voodoo
anomie
understanding
weakensthewill to live. Incidentally,this
automatically
leads
anotheraspect to the anomie-deviancelink. If anomie
suggests
perhaps
does,
tocrime and juvenile delinquency,as it purportedly morale', a
'social
criminalityis another expression of weakenedto
a largemeasure,
has,
one
because
rules
society's
to abide by
refusal
abandonedlife.
ANOMIE AND ITS EFFECTS
IMPLICATIONSFOR OPERATIONALIZING
and
Up to now, anomie has been conceptualizedas 'normlessness'
integration'
of'status
lack
as
ratherunsuccessfully,
operationalized,
to support
oras Srole's'meaninglessness.'Investigationshave failed
of
indicators
valid
are
terms
these
the proposition that any of
social
the total
anomie.2 Moreover,becausethese termsdo not imply
purport to
they
anomie
of
dimension
fact, it is not clear which
measuresa
capture.Thus, it is not clear how 'status integration'
social
societal condition when it consists of measuringindividual
relationships
relationships.And it is not clearwhy havingmanysocial
at least,
Durkheim,
For
anomie.
from
one
shouldnecessarilyprotect
In sum,
the quality and natureof those relationshipsare important.
of
reading
despite the tremendousapparentpopularityof Merton's
been
really
not
what Durkheimmeant by anomie,'normlessness'has
a usefulconcept.
widespread
In addition, it is factually incorrectto attribute theand supports
of'integration'as socialties, contacts
misunderstanding
refersto integrationas a propertyof groups,
Durkheim
to Durkheim.
even if
not as the attachmentof individualsto groups.53Moreover,
intend
did
Durkheim
one assumes for the sake of argument that difficulties.Contemintegrationto referto social ties, one encounters
suicide varies
porary sociologists focus on the proposition that
Durkheim
's concept
of anomieconsidered
as a 'total' socialfact
575
576
StjepanG. Mestrovic
Durkheim's
concept
ofanomie
considered
asa 'total'socialfact
577
578
StjepanG. Mestrovic
asa 'totlll'socialfact
considered
concept
of anomie
Durkheim's
579
's
* The research for this paper was JanikandStephenToulmin,Wittgenstein
supported by a Fellowship from the Vienna,New York, Simon & Schuster,
NationalEndowmentfortheHumanities, 1973;S. Mestrovic,op. cit., StjepanG.
of Plato:Durkheim
for which I am deeplygrateful.I would Mestrovic,In thzShadow
also like to expressmy apreciationto M. andFreudon SuicideandSociety,Doctoral
PhilippeBesnardfor his helpfulnessat dissertation,SyracuseUniversity, 1982;
the Maisondes Sciencesde l'Hommein RobertA. Strikwerda,EmileDurkheim's
for a New
of Science:
Framework
Paris, and to the referencelibrarians Philosophy
Doctoraldissertation,Uniat Lander College: Ann Hare, Betty SocialScience,
versity of Notre Dame, 1982. Thus,
Williams,and SusanGoing.
1. StjepanG. Mestrovic,'Durkheim's EmileDurkheim,TheRulesof Sociological
andIts
TextsonSociology
andSelected
renovatedrationalismand the idea that Method
"collectivelife is only made of represen- Method,New York, Free Press, [1895]
inSacislThwoty,1982, p. 34, writes: 'We had expressly
Perspectives
tations"',Current
vol. 6, 1985, pp. 199-218. For example, stated and reiteratedin everyway possFonnsof ible that sociallife was made up entirely
EmileDurkheim,TheElementary
Life, New York, Free Press, of representations'.
theReligious
3. Stjepan G. Mestrovicand Helene
[1912] 1965, pp. 31-2, writes: 'The
conceptof anomie
rationalismwhich is imminent in the M. Brown,'Durkheim's
vol. 33,
sociologicaltheoryof knowledgeis thus as dereglement',SocialProblems,
midwaybetweenthe classicalempiricism 1985,pp. 81-99.
4. RichardA. Hilbert, 'Anomie and
and apriorism'and 'thus renovated,the
theory of knowledgeseems destined to the moralregulationof reality:the Durkunitethe opposingadvantagesof the two heimiantraditionin modernrelief',Sociovol. 2, 1986,pp. 1a_-39.
rivaltheories.'CelestinBougle,TheFrench logicalTheory,
AboutSocial
5. AnthonyFlew, Thinking
of 'CultureGenerale'and Its
Conception
ThzPhilosophy
of thzSocislScicnces,
New York,Col- Thinking:
UponInstruction,
Infuences
umbia University Press, 1938, p. 22, New York,Basil Blackwell,1986;David
refers specifically to Durkheim's 'ren- Sylvanand BarryGlassner,A Rationalist
for the Social Science,New
ovated rationalism'such that it was 'a Methodology
with positivism'. York,BasilBlackwell,1986;RogerTrigg,
impregnated
rationalism
SocialScience,New York,
2. For discussions,see Philippe Bes- Understanding
Domain:TheDurk- Basil Blackwell, 1985; Paul Riesman,
nard, TheSociological
inFulaniSocialLife:AnIntrospective
ofFrench
Sociology,Freedom
heimians
andtf7eFounding
Chicago,Universityof ChiCambridge,CambridgeUniversityPress, Ethnography,
1982; Celestin Bougle, op. cit.; Andre cago Press, 1977.
andPsycholde
et critique
6. MarcelMauss,Sociology
technique
Lalande, Vocabulaire
Paris,PressesUniversitaires ogy,London,Routledge& Kegan Paul,
laphilosophie,
de France,[ 1926] 1980,pp. 920-2; Allan [1950] 1979.
580
G. Mestrovic
Stjepan
Durkheim
's conceptof anomieconsidered
as a total' socialfact
26. Marcel Mauss, The Gift, New
York,Harper& Row, [1925] 1967.
27. HenriHubertand MarcelMauss,
SacriWe:
Its NatureandFunction,
Chicago,
Universityof ChicagoPress,[1898]1964,
p. 97, write:'Butifsacrificeis so complex,
whence comes its unity? It is because,
fundamentally,beneaththediverseforms
it takes, it always consists . . . in
establishinga means of communication
between the sacred and the profane
worlds'.Thus, sacrificeis an exampleof
totalityparexcellence.
It is no surprisethat
Durkheimplaceda greatdeal of importance on this work,writingin a letter to
Henri Hubertthat sacrifice'c'est la une
notion fondamentalequi a joue un role
capital dans l'evolution des moeurs et
des idees.L'ecoleanthropologique
n'ena
pas saisi toutel'importance,precisement
parce qu'elle n'en a pas vu la nature
sociale' (unpublishedletter of 5 June
1898,courtesyof M. Besnard).
28. HenriHubertand MarcelMauss,
A GeneralTheoryof Magic, New York,
Norton,[1904] 1972.
29. Mestrovicand Brown,op.cit.
30. For example, Emile Durkheim,
Socialism
andSaint-Simon,
YellowSprings,
Antioch Press, [1928] 1958, p. 240, accuses the Saint-Simoniansof promoting
anomiebecausethey 'wantedto get the
mostfromthe least,thesuperiorfromthe
inferior,moralrule fromeconomicmatter'.This is the basisof his entirecritique
of economicand politicalanomie.Thus,
in Professional
Ethicsand Civic Morals,
Greenwich, Greenwood Press, [1950]
1983, p. 109, he attacks classical democratic theoryunderstoodas will of the
people'on the groundsthat this 'will' is
as unstable,infiniteand indefinitein the
politicalarenaas it is in the economic.
31. Andre Lalande, 'Allocutionpour
le centenaire de la naissance d'Emile
Durkheim',in Annalesde l 'Universite
de
Paris,1960,p. 23, reportsthat Durkheim
was so enamoredwith Schopenhauer's
The Worldas Will and Idea that his
students nicknamedhim 'Schopen'. It
seems to me that Durkheim'sversionof
homoduplex,especiallyin his 1914 essay
on that subject,is essentiallya refraction
of Schopenhauer's
dualismbetweenrepresentationsand thepassionate,infinitely
581
582
44. Durkheim [1897]
1951, op. cit.,
p. 257, my
translation.
45. Ibid.,p.257.
46. Mauss [1950]
1979, op. cit., p.
14.
47. Ibid.,p. 24.
48. Durkheim [1897]
1951, op. cit.,
p. 254.
49. Ibid.,p. 246.
50. Ibid.,p. 253,
emphasisadded.
51. Ibid.,pp. 256-7.
52. Richard A.
Dodder and Doris
J.Astle, 'A
methodological
Srole's
nine item anomia analysis of
scale', Multivariate
Behavioral
Research,
vol.
pp.
329-334;Jack P. Gibbs, 15, 1981,
theory
of status integration'Testingthe
and suicide
rates',
American
Sociological
vol. 47,
1982,
pp. 227-37; Eugen Review,
tegration
and anomia:a Schoenfeld,'Inpaper
presentedto the re-examination',
SouthernSociological
Society, Memphis,
Tennessee,
1982.
53.Durkheim [1897]
1951, op. cit.,
p.
209,writes:'So we
reach the general
conclusion:
suicidevaries
with
the
degree of integrationinversely
of the social
groups
of which the
individualformsa
part.'
54.For reviews of
the
concept
of 'integration'in use of the
relation to
Durkheim's
formulation
seeJackDouglas,
The
Social
Meanings
of
1967
and Stjepan Suicide,Princeton,
Mestrovic
Glassner,
'A Durkheimian and Barry
hypothesison
stress',
SocialScience
andMedicine
vol. 17,
no.
18,
1983,pp. 1315-27.
55.
Durkheim [1897] 1951, op.
p.writes
cit.,
117 'that day
favors suicide
because
this is the time of
most
existence,
when human relationsactive
and
recross,
when social life is cross
most
intense'
and on p. 119:'Thus
proves
that if daytimeis the everything
part of the
twenty-four
hoursmost favorableto
cide,
it
isbecause
it is also the time suiwhen
social
lifeis at its
height....
lengthening
of the days seemsthe mere
to offer
wider
latitudeto
regard
to women, collective life.' With
Durkheimwrites on
p.
299
'Ifwomen
kill themselvesmuch
less
often
than
men,it is becausethey
are
much
less thanmen
involved
in
existence;
thus they feel its collective
influence
good
evilor less strongly.'
StjepanG. Mestrovic
56. Durkheim [1912]
1965, op. cit.,
p. 354. In general,
Durkheim
was a
pessimistwho
that the advance
of the divisionbelieved
of labor bringsless
happiness.See also
op.cit., p. 249. Durkheim[1893] 1933,
57. Durkheim [1897]
1951, op. cit.,
p.151.
58. Marcel Mauss,
Seasonal
oftheEskimo:
A Studyin Social Variations
Morphology,
London,
Routledge& KeganPaul,
[1950]
1979,
p. 77.
59. Halbwachs
[1930] 1978, op. cit.,
p.
319.
60. In Myrna
Weissman, Community
Surveys
ofPsychiatric
Disorders,
wick,
Rutgers University New BrunsPress, 1986,
pp.
65-76.
61. Hans Selye, Stress
Without
Distress,
Philadelphia,
Lippincott,1974,p. 17.
62.Hans Selye,
TheStressof
York,
Harper& Row, 1978,p.Life,New
64.
63.Mestrovicand
64.Discussedin Glassner,op.cit.
StjepanMestrovic,'A
sociological
conceptualization
oftrauma',
Social
Science
andMedicine,
vol. 21, 1985,
pp.
835-48.
65.
WalterCannon, The
of the
Body,
Chicago, UniversityWisdom
of
Chicago
Press,
1963,p. 313.
66.
Mestrovicand Brown,op.
cit.
67.
Durkheim[1950]
the
sensethat political1983,op.cit., in
and economic
anomie
consztitute
a 'publicdanger'
because
they cause such great
suffering
to
the
unsuspecting
public.
68.
Durkheim [1897] 1951, op.
p.writes:
cit.,
44 'The term
to
all of death suicideis applied
cases
resulting
indirectly
froma positiveor directlyor
negative
of
the
victim
himself,whichhe knpts act
will
produce
this result' (emphasis
This
passageis discussedat added).
Mestrovic
1982, op. cit. In length in
addition,
Durkheim's
understanding
of
motivation
is discussed in unconscious
Stjepan G.
Mestrovic,
'Durkheim'sconcept of the
unconscious',
Current
Perspectives
in Social
Theory,
vol.5, 1984,pp.
267-88.
69.
See
especiallyMaurice
[1930]
1978,op. cit., p. 291 Halbwachs
whereinhe
writes:
'Durkheim
did not say, "the act
accomplished
by the victim with
the
intention
or prospectof
puttinghimself
to
death".
Oftenit is impossiblefor
us to
Durkheim's
concept
ofanomie
considered
asa 'total'socialfact
583
p.