Anomie and Objection to War: An Assessment of Isomorphism

Abstract

Conformity to both cultural goals and institutional means is the most common adaptation . . . Merton claims that all five forms of adaptation relate to deviant behavior. Conformity or com mitment to goals and institutional norms on the part of a large proportion of people, however, makes society possible. It is not in focusing on conforming or normal behavior that it is possible to find out about the basic stresses of a society but rather by directing attention to deviant behavior (Clinard, 1967: 16). It is important to note immediately that the theory is posited in the premise that there is a common value structure in a given society, and that deviance is measured by a departure from it. Rebellion is, in a real sense, the greatest departure from the norm. Con ventional goals are rejected as are the prescribed means of attainment. A realization that existing institutional structures are inadequate for the satisfaction of goals believed to be legitimate by an individual represents the strain toward anomie in this case. It represents a transitional response seeking to institutionalize new goals and new procedures to be shared by members of society. It thus refers to efforts to change the existing cultural and social structure rather than to accommodate efforts within this structure (Merton, 1949: 140).