Anomie and The Purge

Abstract

Robert K. Merton’s (American Sociological Review, 3(5), 672–682, 1938) work analyzes a societal structure that converges around one dream and identity of economic success. When a discrepancy exists between common cultural goals and the lack of opportunities and resources to attain such goals, anomie or normlessness begins to emerge, creating instability in the social structure. Citizens must adapt, legitimately or illegitimately, to institutionalized goals and means to achieve cultural goals via one of the five typologies proposed by Merton. A lack of opportunities and resources imposed on certain groups by the social structure can lead to feelings of strain, which can, in turn, lead to deviant and criminal behavior. But what if crime were legal for one night a year? In The Purge films, the New Founding Fathers of America have won over the American political system and legalized crime for one 12-hour period a year called the purge. They hail the purge as an economic success because crime and poverty are at an all-time low, but not everyone agrees. The resulting social and economic structure creates competition, distances the upper class from the middle and lower classes, and leaves people adapting to survive by, literally, fighting for their lives.