Social Institutions and Violence
A Sub‐national Test of Institutional Anomie Theory
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9681269 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael O Maume (0000-0003-1467-2118, University of North Carolina Wilmington, corresponding author), Matthew R Lee (0000-0002-0308-7274) |
| Year | 2003 |
| Volume | 41 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 1137-1172 |
| Publication date | 2003-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Criminology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0011-1384 • E-ISSN: 1745-9125 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1745-9125.2003.tb01016.x |
| OpenAlex | W2115525892 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 50 |
| References cited | 55 |
Messner and Rosenfeld's institutional anomie theory is grounded in the assumption that relatively higher crime rates in the United States are due to (1) the overwhelming influence of economic motives and institutions in society, and (2) the subjugation of all other social institutions to cultural economic interests (e.g., the American Dream). Our analysis is designed to extend the limited body of empirical research on this theory in several ways. First, we seek to test the utility of institutional anomie theory for predicting crime rates across aggregate units within the United States (counties). Second, we draw out the theory's emphasis on instrumental crime and suggest that measures of noneconomic social, political, familial, religious, and educational institutions will be particularly relevant for explaining instrumental as opposed to expressive violence. Third, in contrast to prior research, we develop conceptual reasons to expect that these factors will primarily mediate (as opposed to moderate) the relationship between economically motivating pressures and instrumental violence. Our negative binomial regression analyses of data from the Supplementary Homicide Reports and various censuses indicate that the measures of noneconomic institutions perform well in explaining both instrumental and expressive homicides, but that these measures mediate the impact of economic pressures (as measured by the Gini coefficient of family income inequality) to commit instrumental violence most strongly. Further, we find only very limited support for the more popular moderation hypothesis
Anomie · Criminology · Demographic economics · Econometrics · Economic inequality · Economics · Homicide · Inequality · Instrumental variable · Poison control · Positive economics · Social science · Sociological theory · Sociology · Suicide prevention · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Psychology · Social Psychology · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence
Crime and the American Dream
Can Social Safety Net Spending Prevent Crime
Cross-country comparison analysis of individual and institutional factors of anomie and online offending
A fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis of corruption and homicide in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries through the lens of the institutional anomie theory
Social anomie induced by resource development projects
Network linkages between housing prices and crime risk
Institutional Anomie Theory and Country-Level Public Corruption
Development and Crime Drop
The Effect of the Cares Act on Property Crime
Empirical Issues in the Homicide-Income Inequality Argument
Murder in the shadows
When Do Protests Matter? The Direct and Moderating Role of Social Institutions in Curbing Police-Involved Killings
Racial dynamics underlying crime commission, emotionality, and last statements among executed offenders in Texas
Race and the Religious Contexts of Violence
Assessing Regional Variation in Support for the Radical Right-Wing Party ‘Alternative for Germany’ (AfD)—A Novel Application of Institutional Anomie Theory across German Districts
Modernization Theory Revised
The Growth of Chinese Think Tanks and the Question of Crime
Crime, Politics, and Punishment
An evaluation of the assumptions that underlie institutional anomie theory
Untangling research puzzles in Merton's multilevel anomie theory
The Maximizer
Dirty Harry and the station queens
Socio-Cultural Impacts on Drug Trafficking Trends in Europe
Rural Crime and Community Safety
Anomia institucional, espacialidad y temporalidad en las muertes asociadas a la lucha contra la delincuencia organizada en México
Regional variation in the effect of structural factors on homicide in rural areas
Exploring white-collar crime and the American dream
Social support, ethnic heterogeneity, and homicide
Examining interactive effects of characteristics of the social and physical environment on aggravated assault
How does the welfare state reduce crime? The effect of program characteristics and decommodification across 18 OECD-countries
Television consumption and Institutional Anomie Theory
Institutional imbalance, integration into Non-economic institutions, and a marketized mentality in Europe
El Efecto de la Desigualdad Económica en los Homicidios en la Unión Europea
Social Organization and Instrumental Crime
Institutional anomie and cross‐national differences in incarceration
Non-market institutions and crime in US counties
Cultural and Institutional Adaptation and Change in Europe
The Impact of Neighborhood Characteristics on Routine and Gang-Involved Gun Violence
Re-Considering the Structural Covariates of Gun Crime
Economic Dominance, the 'American Dream,' and Homicide
When Birds of a Feather Don't Flock Together
The contemporary foreclosure crisis and US crime rates
Socioeconomic Dynamics of Neighborhoods and the Risk of Crime Victimization
Institutional anomie, religious ecologies, and violence in American communities
Congregations and Crime
The Religious Institutional Base and Violent Crime in Rural Areas
Culture, Institutions, and Morally Dubious Behaviors
Mapping Homicide Clusters across the United States Using County Level Data, 2004-2012 with Comparisons to Earlier Studies
Race, Institutions, and American Homicide
Mighty Like A River
Code of the street
Crime and the American dream
Democracy in America
Explaining Recent Trends in U.S. Homicide Rates
Social Structure and Anomie
Poisson-Based Regression Analysis of Aggregate Crime Rates
Neighborhoods and Crime
Disadvantage and Neighborhood Violent Crime
Demanding to Be Heard
Religion and Suicide
The First American Frontier
Incarceration, Social Capital, and Crime
The Influence of Testosterone on Deviance in Adulthood
To Kill or Not to Kill? Lethal Outcomes in Injurious Attacks
Social Altruism and Crime
Poverty, Inequality, and City Homicide Rates
Assessing Messner and Rosenfeld's Institutional Anomie Theory
Social Disorganization Outside the Metropolis
Inequality, Welfare State, and Homicide
Anomie, Social Change and Crime. A Theoretical Examination of Institutional-Anomie Theory
Structural Covariates of Homicide Rates
The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research
The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research
The Kuznets Curve and the Great U-Turn
The three worlds of welfare capitalism
The New Golden Rule
Making Democracy Work
Typologizing violence
Social Structure and Anomie
The Cost of Inequality
The Social Production of Criminal Homicide
American Community Behavior
Deviant Behavior and Social Structure
Small Manufacturing and Nonmetropolitan Socioeconomic Well-Being
Political Restraint of the Market and Levels of Criminal Homicide
Social Capital and Homicide
Local Capitalism, Civic Engagement, and Socioeconomic Well-Being
Political Restraint of the Market and Levels of Criminal Homicide
Urbanism and Suicide
The Truly Disadvantaged, Public Assistance, and Crime
Declining Violent Crime Rates in the 1990s
Size Matters
Statistical Methods for Comparing Regression Coefficients Between Models
Community Structure and Crime
Suicide in America
| Unique citing works | 50 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,5 |
| Citation span | 2006 - 2026 (21) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 50 |