The anomie in our midst

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The French sociologist Emile Durkheim's study of suicide led to a theory that instability resulting in a breakdown of standards or social conventions can lead to alienation. He called it 'anomie' and described it as a condition in which we discover that all of the social values and connections we considered important, are suddenly no longer there, and we become detached, lost, void of our sense of community and identity.

There is plenty of instability today, and although most of it tends not to lead to tragic acts such as suicide, it can lead to feelings of loneliness, helplessness or alienation within society.

Instability today comes in many forms, but derives (according to Durkheim in his day), from either the division of labour (the way work is organised) or from rapid social change. By division of labour, he means that the regimes of work we find ourselves in can erode our sense of personal identity. Today, rapid social change has become a dominant aspect of society, but there are many other disruptive forces acting upon our world. These include the constant threat from terrorism, the fear of nuclear conflict, various forms of discrimination and the effects of austerity and economic turbulence, as well as global factors such as climate change, natural disasters, the refugee crisis, and political uncertainty.

Anyone watching TV news today is likely to be bombarded with images of suffering and devastation ('viewers may find some of these scenes disturbing'), the aftermath of criminal activities, civil unrest, and the inevitable political rhetoric. After all, bad news sells newspapers and TV subscriptions. We may be asked to look away of we don't want to know the scores, but we continue to look on, with horrified fascination. This clearly has an impact on each of us.

But what do our children make of it all?

Clearly, school is a place, possibly the place, where they can begin to make sense of it. In all probability, when there is a major disaster, or a global incident that is covered extensively by news channels, teachers can take the opportunity to discuss these with their students, and turn them into teachable moments.

But what is the long term effect on children? Social change leads to ruptures in the fabric of our lives, disrupting what we depend upon, whether it is a motorway closure that leads to motorists being stranded for hours, because there is a suspicious package on the hard shoulder that must be investigated; to widespread instability caused by political decisions that go wrong; to massive loss of life because of escalating conflict.

For children, social change may be as simple as having to move from one school (where all their friends are) to another school, and feeling like an outsider. Imagine how refugees fleeing from the only home they ever knew might feel, especially if they are school age children. If they have also lost their parents, it is even more traumatic.

How do teachers handle a situation where refugee children arrive in their classrooms unable to speak the language, the trauma of what they have witnessed fresh in their minds, suddenly immersed in an alien culture? Teachers have their work cut out to cope with such situations alongside all of the existing duties they must attend to. Theories such as Durkheim's anomie may be useful in shaping our understanding of how people feel alienated in society, whether they are refugees or natives to the country they live within. Particularly, teachers need to be aware of the psychological impact such exposure may have on children, and many will need additional training to be able to manage it effectively.

There will always be change, and we will constantly be required to battle against threats to our society, but it is how we rise to meet these challenges that will define who we are as a people.  


The anomie in our midst by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.