Sociology

The article an evaluation of the assumptions that underlie institutional anomie theory by Mitchell B. Chamlin and John K. Cochran is a 2007 publication in the Theoretical Criminology Volume 11 issue number 1. The article looks into the institutional anomie theory (IAT) suggested by Messner and Rosenfeld (1994) in their book Crime and the American Dream, thereby contending some of the assumptions thereof while putting more weight to a few. From their evaluation based on other theories and numerous research methods, they find the theory being applicable only to developed nations more so the Western nations.

Summary
Chamlin and Cochran begins by highlighting Messners and Rosenfelds assumptions whereby they described the United States society as one that stresses on the need to be materially rich ignoring other institutions of the society such as the family, religion and education. Together with this, they also note that Messner and Rosenfeld indicated that the United States records unusual high crime levels more so homicide. It is from these two observations that the institutional anomie theory emanates. The article therefore goes ahead to explore these assumptions. The article initially agrees with the basis of the assumptions of the IAT that by emphasizing on only one value system of a society such as economic system can lead to increased crime. The article highlights Merton (1938) as also claiming that the American society puts more weight on material wealth and too little on other societal structures thereby defining the end (becoming rich) but disregarding the means, hence increase in crime. To this extent, people try to use the most effective means of becoming rich and this happens to be crime.

The article also presents Mertons view of the anomie theory as opposing to that of Messner and Rosenfeld whereby they argue against creating a more appealing economy as proposed by Merton and instead focus should be on reducing imbalances in the institutions of the society. It is also in the highlight of this article that Messner and Rosenfeld argue that other institutions of the society are contributing to crime by failing to define success in other terms other than material achievement. Messner and Rosenfeld therefore conclude that imbalance in power with more attention on economic gain as opposed to other societal institutions like the family has led to high crime levels in America.

On evaluating IAT as proposed by Messner and Rosenfeld, the article identifies the theory restrictive in terms of falsification as compared other anomie theories such as Durkheins and Mertons theory. The article questions the claim of IAT that there is extra attention on economy as a societal institution by seeking to know how one would determine that economy has dominated over other institutions. Further, Chamlin and Cochran seek to know to what extent other institutions may lead to reduction in the anomie. The article identifies IAT as not subject to falsification since it bears elements of ambiguity in its main variables and their relationship. The article realizes that non-economic institutions of the society may have an influence on crime as proposed in the IAT but cautions that these institutions are shaped to a large extent by the economy.

The article finds it hard to falsify IAT but nevertheless challenges the theory by presenting data that from surveys showing that America is not experiencing exceptionally high crime rates compared to other nations. They question the decision of Messner and Rosenfeld to leave out developing and third world countries in the evaluation thus proving the theory as applicable when comparing to Western developed countries. The article agrees with Durkheiminan view of anomie theory that changes in the structure of a society for instance from an agricultural to an industrialized society may lead to differences in crime rates. Using data from World Values Survey, the article also disapproves the IAT basis that the U.S. society is preoccupied with amassing wealth at the expense of religion and family. From the study, it is identified that the U.S. values family and religion higher compared to most of the developed countries under comparison. In fact, the claim from the study is that developing countries such as the former Soviet states value wealth more than the U.S. The article therefore finds the institutional anomie theory by Messner and Rosenfeld unable to clearly explain high crime in America.  

Critique
Chamlins and Cochrans article is an exemplary critique of the institutional anomie theory. The article precisely contends the assumptions in IAT that America has an unusual crime rate which is attributed to capitalism that gives more weight to the economy as compared to the family, religion and politics. By first proving the theory as not free to falsification, the article finds a good ground for proving the assumptions unsatisfactory (Bjerregaard  Cochran, 2008). To prove that the United States is not exceptional in terms of serious crimes, Chamlin and Cochran highlights the biasness of the theory by showing that the study leading to the theory was restricted to only 16 developed western countries. The article finds no good explanation for why this sample was preferred yet other nations such as those in the Russian Federation had significant high crime rates. The article specifically exposes the reports used to select the sample and it is clear that it was not due to lack of sufficient data as many other countries were available for assessment.  

The assumption that the U.S. value system is devoted on attaining material success without regard of the means used is also appropriately challenged in this article. Using reliable data from the World Values Survey, Chamlin and Cochran are able to present the U.S. as a society that follows the principles of capitalism just like any other capitalist society. They identified that most Americans do not consider money to be the main motivating factor towards working compared to other nations hence concluding that America is not preoccupied with material success.

The article is however deficient in that their study methods would have had some ambiguity as well as be leading. For instance, by the questions put forward to seek information regarding what people regard as success were too restricted to only a few variables hence not covering the whole aspect of success.  It is not very clear on why they chose to use the degree of acceptance that it is preferable to lay less emphasis on acquiring material things and money. Much still, the study should have paid much attention on differences in societal developments as these are likely to determine crime (Piquero  Piquero, 1998).

Conclusion
The institutional anomie theory is a substantially reliable theory of criminal justice. Nevertheless, it is lacking in terms of falsification and does not have a correct representation of the United States society as proved by Chamlins and Cochrans evaluation. It is appreciable that the article challenges this theory effectively thus highlighting weaknesses in its assumptions. To further address these deficiencies, it would be appropriate to explore the applicability of the theory in a wide range of societal structures. It would be advisable to test this theory in purely third world nations and compare the results with those of developed nations like the U.S. for better approval of the theory in criminal justice.