Unbalanced Institutional Commitments and Delinquent Behavior

• Author: Brian J. Stults,Christi S. Falco
• Published date: 01 January 2014
• Date: 01 January 2014
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/1541204012473133
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Unbalanced Institutional

Commitments and

Delinquent Behavior:

An Individual-Level

Assessment of Institutional

Anomie Theory

Brian J. Stults

1

and Christi S. Falco

1

Abstract

Institutional anomie theory (IAT) argues that crime results from a value complex that elevates the

economy over other institutions. Though most assessments of IAT have been conducted at the

macro level, the key relationships can also be evaluated among individuals. Using a national survey of

high school seniors, we examine whether violence, theft, and substance use are related to individual

commitments to economic and noneconomic institutions. Results show that adherence to eco-

nomic values is positively related to certain forms of delinquency and that commitments to none-

conomic institutions reduce delinquent behavior. Moreover, commitment to noneconomic

institutions often reduces the effect of economic commitment on delinquency.

Keywords

institutional anomie theory, institutions and crime, juvenile delinquency, strain

Introduction

Though institutional anomie theory (IAT) is explicitly cast as a macro-level theory, recent theore-

tical and empirical work has begun to directly link the broad structural and cultural forces implicated

in the theory to the attitudes and behaviors of individuals (Baumer, 2007; Cullen, Parboteeah, &

Hoegl, 2004; Karstedt & Farrall, 2006; Messner, Thome, & Rosenfeld, 2008; Muftic´, 2006). Much

of this work builds on the premise that the institutional balance of power that has developed in the

United States, and the cultural values that result from and reinforce that balance, are both manifest

1

College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA

Corresponding Author:

Brian J. Stults, Coll ege of Criminology a nd Criminal Justice, Florida State Unive rsity, 634 West Call St reet, Tallahassee ,

FL 32306, USA.

Email: bstults@fsu.edu

Youth Violence and JuvenileJustice

2014, Vol 12(1) 77-100

ªThe Author(s) 2012

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DOI: 10.1177/1541204012473133

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and rooted in individual human action. As Messner, Thome, and Rosenfeld (2008) explain, a Parso-

nian view of social institutions presupposes a certain social order that can only exist when individ-

uals collectively adhere, more or less, to a common set of values and regulatory norms. This

collective value system provides the foundation for social institutions which, in turn, further regulate

behavior by serving as a moral authority that individuals confront when evaluating alternative goals

and when choosing from a set of available means.

This view of institutions does not require an assumption of complete consensus about institutional

norms, nor does it assume full agreement on the relative weight given to economic and noneconomic

institutions. In fact, as Baumer (2007) notes while developing a multilevel explication of Merton’s

theoretical model, even within a highly anomic society, commitment to culturally prescribed values

and norms can vary across individuals. The potential for variability in individual orientations to the

societal level institutional balance of power underscores the importance of assessing the validity of

IAT’s implications at the individual level.

The current study builds on recent theoretical elaborations of IAT to examine whether variation

in adherence to the values associated with major social institutions influences the criminal and delin-

quent behavior of individuals. Using a nationally representative survey of high school seniors, we

measure adherence to the values associated with the economy, family, education, polity, and reli-

gion, and evaluate their association with involvement in violence, theft, and substance use. Consis-

tent with IAT, we expect that those with strong adherence to the values of a capitalistic economy will

be more likely to engage in these delinquent acts and that those who are more committed to the val-

ues of noneconomic institutions will be less delinquent. Moreover, we assess whether the influence

of capitalistic economic value commitments on criminal and delinquent behavior is conditioned by

adherence to noneconomic institutional values.

In addition to providing an individual-level assessment of IAT, we contribute to the existing

research on IAT in two important ways. First, the use of a high school sample allows us to assess

the relevance of IAT for explaining the behavior of juveniles, in contrast to most prior studies that

have examined only adult crime. We see this as an important contribution given that the peak crime-

prone years often fall in late adolescence or early adulthood, and because by the final year of high

school, juveniles have developed many meaningful attitudes and value orientations toward social

institutions as they are about to embark on their adult life. We build upon prior research by examin-

ing substance use in addition to theft and violence. Though empirical research on IAT most often

uses violent and instrumental crimes as outcomes, recent research suggests that IAT may also serve

as an effective explanation of other, noncriminal forms of rule breaking (Cullen et al., 2004; Karstedt

& Farrall, 2006; Muftic´, 2006). This argument is consistent with Messner and Rosenfeld’s (2001)

statement that unbalanced institutional power will influence behavior directed toward goals of any

type, not just material goals. We evaluate this possibility by including substance use as an outcome.

Theoretical Framework

Classic and Contemporary Articulations of Anomie

The concept of ‘‘anomie’’ has received varied treatments in the theoretical and empirical literature

in sociology and criminology. According to Durkheim (1897), the condition of anomie is character-

ized as a normlessness of goals, resulting from a system of trade and industry that is chronically

deregulated. He argued that when the economy is detached from, and thus unregulated by, other

social institutions, economic desires are no longer subject to the normative boundaries that these

institutions impose. Without the regulatory force of institutional social norms, the economy becomes

self-regulating, yielding limitless economic ambition and unchecked materialism that ultimately

weakens the social bond between the individual and society (Polanyi, 1957).

78 Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice 12(1)