Book Review: Messner, S. F. & Rosenfeld, R. (2007). Crime and the American Dream (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth. 160 pp

• Author: Marguerite S. Keesee
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016808325716
• Published date: 01 June 2009
• Date: 01 June 2009
• Subject Matter: Articles

260 Criminal Justice Review

of new critical criminologists whose dissertations can become monographs. I recommend

Advancing Critical Criminology for upper division, undergraduate, and graduate courses as

a point of departure to mainstream criminology.

Matthew G. Yeager

King’s University College, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada

Messner, S. F. & Rosenfeld, R. (2007). Crime and the American Dream (4th ed.). Belmont,

CA: Thomson Wadsworth. 160 pp.

DOI: 10.1177/0734016808325716

Steven Messner, a Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Department of Sociology at the

University of Albany, and Richard Rosenfeld, a Curators Professor in the Department of

Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, have made substan-

tial contributions to the field of criminology for more than 20 years. Unlike the work of many

criminologists, Messner and Rosenfeld’s work has focused primarily on the study of crime and

violence at a macrosociological level, including research on neighborhoods, inner-cities, and

nation-states. Both authors have published extensively, with more than nine books and 120

journal articles in print. In early 1990, the authors first vetted their reformulation of Merton’s

theory of anomie and social structure, now commonly referred to as institutional anomie theory

(IAT). In their fourth installment of Crime and the American Dream, Messner and Rosenfeld

address recent challenges to one of the main premises underlying IAT—that of American

exceptionalism in relation to serious violent crime. Their central argument is that high rates of

serious crime are a normal by-product of U.S. social institutions and cultural beliefs. They

contend that the cultural ethos embodied in the American Dream drives the high rates of seri-

ous and white collar crime and the corresponding punitive social response. The purpose of this

text is to propose a sociological explanation for the exceptionally high rates of serious crime

and the nature of the associated social response to these crimes in the United States.

In chapter 1, Messner and Rosenfeld assert that the anomic nature of the American Dream

and its corresponding social institutions breed and support the occurrence of serious crime

at a higher rate than in other developed nations. They identify key components of the

American Dream believed to encourage involvement in crime by creating ambition and

insatiable desire while simultaneously subordinating and devaluing social institutions

responsible for control. These elements include an exaggerated emphasis on achievement,

universalism, individualism, and the fetishism of money. The authors conclude with a review

of the historical development and theoretical underpinnings of anomie theory, including a

discussion of its theoretical strengths, weaknesses, and potential for future development.

Exceptionality in the level and form of serious violent crime that occurs in the United

States is the major empirical premise underlying Messner and Rosenfeld’s theory. Recent

downward trends in U.S. violent crime rates, coupled with a convergence in rates between

the United States and its international counterparts, pose a significant threat to the theory’s

empirical validity. In chapter 2, Messner and Rosenfeld examine current cross-national

trends in homicide and robbery rates, use and availability of firearms, and rates of incarceration.