Fatalism and Anomie

This paper is concerned with the possibility of applying Durkheim's all but ignored notion. on fatalism in a study of two Colombian peasant villages, in an attempt to work towards a conceptual framework useful in explaining underdevelopment, Throughout Durkheim's The Division of Labor runs the theme of the emergence of the inclividual conscience-which in the .modern, differentiated society is replacing the monolithic collective conscience. Religion, before all, ceases to function as the all-embracing source of regulation; it becomes distantandindeterminate;more leeway is given to the display of individually generated forces" Religious norms begin to resemble mere habits of talk; the individual "feels himself less acted upon; he becomes more a source of spontaneous activity." 2 , Two Durkheimian types of "norm states," or relationships between the collective conscience and the individual conscience, are of particular interest here. Anomie is the case of disturbances in the collective order of norms which occurs in times of rapid change, 3 A new set of collective norms is slow in forming; and individuals atthe

Anomie · Collective behavior · Conscience · Disenchantment · Epistemology · Fatalism · Function (biology · Mores · Norm (philosophy · Peasant · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Theme (computing · Anthropology · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies