en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anomie
2 corrections found
In this, Durkheim argued that religion is much more important than culture with regard to anomic suicide.
This mislabels Durkheim’s argument. His Protestant/Catholic comparison is part of his theory of **egoistic** suicide, not **anomic** suicide.
Full reasoning
The surrounding paragraph discusses Durkheim’s comparison of Protestant and Catholic suicide rates. In Suicide, that comparison belongs to egoistic suicide—suicide associated with weaker social integration—not to anomic suicide, which Durkheim treats separately as a problem of insufficient regulation or social deregulation.
A University of Chicago summary of Suicide places the Protestant/Catholic discussion under the heading "Egoistic Suicide" and explains that Protestants had higher suicide rates because Protestantism was "a less strongly integrated church" than Catholicism. The same source discusses anomic suicide separately in connection with social deregulation in economic and domestic life. Yale’s Open Courses likewise explains that the higher Protestant suicide rate leaves more room for egoistic suicide because Catholicism involves a higher level of integration.
So the article’s sentence is incorrect because it assigns Durkheim’s religion-based comparison to the wrong suicide category.
2 sources
- Suicide (1897) — summary based on Robert Alun Jones, Emile Durkheim: An Introduction to Four Major Works
Egoistic Suicide ... where Protestants are most numerous the suicide rate is highest ... Catholics commit suicide less frequently ... Protestantism lacked such a credo, it was a less strongly integrated church than its Roman Catholic counterpart. ... Durkheim used the term anomie to describe this temporary condition of social deregulation ... in trade and industry.
- Open Yale Courses: Durkheim on Suicide
He generally finds that there is a higher rate of suicide among Protestants, and lower rates among Catholics ... So therefore it leaves relatively little room for egoistic suicide, because the high level of integration.
As an older variant, the 1913 Webster's Dictionary reports the word anomie as meaning "disregard or violation of the law."
The 1913 Webster entry is for **anomy**, not **anomie**. The quoted definition belongs to the older spelling "anomy."
Full reasoning
This sentence mixes up two spellings. The 1913 Webster's Unabridged Dictionary gives "Disregard or violation of law" under the headword ANOMY. A historical vocabulary source summarizing the OED likewise says the earlier form was anomy, now obsolete, while anomie is the later French-derived spelling used in sociology.
So the definition quoted is real, but the dictionary was reporting anomy, not anomie.
2 sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
ANOMY ... Defn: Disregard or violation of law.
- Historical Vocabulary of Addiction, Vol. II: Anomie
An earlier version, the noun anomy (“Disregard for or violation of law, especially divine law; [also more generally] lawlessness”), is now obsolete... The first use of the word anomie recorded in OED is ... 1933.