Revisiting the measurement of anomie

Ali Teymoori; Jolanda Jetten; Brock Bastian; Amarina Ariyanto; Frédérique Autin; Nadia Ayub; Constantina Badea; Tomasz Besta; Fabrizio Butera; Rui Costa-Lopes; Lijuan Cui; Carole Fantini; Gillian Finchilescu; Lowell Gaertner; Mario Gollwitzer; Ángel Gómez; Roberto González; Ying Yi Hong; Dorthe Høj Jensen; Minoru Karasawa; Thomas Kessler; Olivier Klein; Marcus Lima; Tuuli Anna Mähönen; Laura Megevand; Thomas Morton; Paola Paladino; Tibor Polya; Aleksejs Ruza; Wan Shahrazad; Sushama Sharma; Ana Raquel Torres; Anne Marthe Van Der Bles; Michael Wohl

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0158370

Revisiting the measurement of anomie

Ali Teymoori, Jolanda Jetten, Brock Bastian, Amarina Ariyanto, Frédérique Autin, Nadia Ayub, Constantina Badea, Tomasz Besta, Fabrizio Butera, Rui Costa-Lopes, Lijuan Cui, Carole Fantini, Gillian Finchilescu, Lowell Gaertner, Mario Gollwitzer, Ángel Gómez, Roberto González, Ying Yi Hong, Dorthe Høj Jensen, Minoru KarasawaThomas Kessler, Olivier Klein, Marcus Lima, Tuuli Anna Mähönen, Laura Megevand, Thomas Morton, Paola Paladino, Tibor Polya, Aleksejs Ruza, Wan Shahrazad, Sushama Sharma, Ana Raquel Torres, Anne Marthe Van Der Bles, Michael Wohl

28 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Sociologists coined the term "anomie" to describe societies that are characterized by disintegration and deregulation. Extending beyond conceptualizations of anomie that conflate the measurements of anomie as 'a state of society' and as a 'state of mind', we disentangle these conceptualizations and develop an analysis and measure of this phenomenon focusing on anomie as a perception of the 'state of society'. We propose that anomie encompasses two dimensions: a perceived breakdown in social fabric (i.e., disintegration as lack of trust and erosion of moral standards) and a perceived breakdown in leadership (i.e., deregulation as lack of legitimacy and effectiveness of leadership). Across six studies we present evidence for the validity of the new measure, the Perception of Anomie Scale (PAS). Studies 1a and 1b provide evidence for the proposed factor structure and internal consistency of PAS. Studies 2a-c provide evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. Finally, assessing PAS in 28 countries, we show that PAS correlates with national indicators of societal functioning and that PAS predicts national identification and well-being (Studies 3a & 3b). The broader implications of the anomie construct for the study of group processes are discussed.

Original language	English
Article number	e0158370
Journal	PLoS ONE
Volume	11
Issue number	7
ISSN	1932-6203
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0158370
Publication status	Published - 1 Jul 2016
Externally published	Yes

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Teymoori, A., Jetten, J., Bastian, B., Ariyanto, A., Autin, F., Ayub, N., Badea, C., Besta, T., Butera, F., Costa-Lopes, R., Cui, L., Fantini, C., Finchilescu, G., Gaertner, L., Gollwitzer, M., Gómez, Á., González, R., Hong, Y. Y., Jensen, D. H., ... Wohl, M. (2016). Revisiting the measurement of anomie. PLoS ONE, 11(7), [e0158370]. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0158370

Teymoori, A, Jetten, J, Bastian, B, Ariyanto, A, Autin, F, Ayub, N, Badea, C, Besta, T, Butera, F, Costa-Lopes, R, Cui, L, Fantini, C, Finchilescu, G, Gaertner, L, Gollwitzer, M, Gómez, Á, González, R, Hong, YY, Jensen, DH, Karasawa, M, Kessler, T, Klein, O, Lima, M, Mähönen, TA, Megevand, L, Morton, T, Paladino, P, Polya, T, Ruza, A, Shahrazad, W, Sharma, S, Torres, AR, Van Der Bles, AM & Wohl, M 2016, 'Revisiting the measurement of anomie', PLoS ONE, vol. 11, no. 7, e0158370. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0158370

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AU - Teymoori, Ali

AU - Jetten, Jolanda

AU - Bastian, Brock

AU - Ariyanto, Amarina

AU - Autin, Frédérique

AU - Ayub, Nadia

AU - Badea, Constantina

AU - Besta, Tomasz

AU - Butera, Fabrizio

AU - Costa-Lopes, Rui

AU - Cui, Lijuan

AU - Fantini, Carole

AU - Finchilescu, Gillian

AU - Gaertner, Lowell

AU - Gollwitzer, Mario

AU - Gómez, Ángel

AU - González, Roberto

AU - Hong, Ying Yi

AU - Jensen, Dorthe Høj

AU - Karasawa, Minoru

AU - Kessler, Thomas

AU - Klein, Olivier

AU - Lima, Marcus

AU - Mähönen, Tuuli Anna

AU - Megevand, Laura

AU - Morton, Thomas

AU - Paladino, Paola

AU - Polya, Tibor

AU - Ruza, Aleksejs

AU - Shahrazad, Wan

AU - Sharma, Sushama

AU - Torres, Ana Raquel

AU - Van Der Bles, Anne Marthe

AU - Wohl, Michael

PY - 2016/7/1

Y1 - 2016/7/1

N2 - Sociologists coined the term "anomie" to describe societies that are characterized by disintegration and deregulation. Extending beyond conceptualizations of anomie that conflate the measurements of anomie as 'a state of society' and as a 'state of mind', we disentangle these conceptualizations and develop an analysis and measure of this phenomenon focusing on anomie as a perception of the 'state of society'. We propose that anomie encompasses two dimensions: a perceived breakdown in social fabric (i.e., disintegration as lack of trust and erosion of moral standards) and a perceived breakdown in leadership (i.e., deregulation as lack of legitimacy and effectiveness of leadership). Across six studies we present evidence for the validity of the new measure, the Perception of Anomie Scale (PAS). Studies 1a and 1b provide evidence for the proposed factor structure and internal consistency of PAS. Studies 2a-c provide evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. Finally, assessing PAS in 28 countries, we show that PAS correlates with national indicators of societal functioning and that PAS predicts national identification and well-being (Studies 3a & 3b). The broader implications of the anomie construct for the study of group processes are discussed.

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SN - 1932-6203

VL - 11

JO - PLoS Computational Biology

JF - PLoS Computational Biology

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ER -

Revisiting the measurement of anomie

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