Considering an “Alternative Capacity to Desire”: Institutional Anomie Theory, the American Dream, and the Ontological Turn
ISBN: 978-1-78714-876-5, eISBN: 978-1-78714-875-8
Publication date: 6 September 2018
Abstract
Purpose – This chapter problematizes the concept of the “American Dream” – important for Messner and Rosenfeld’s Intuitional Anomie Theory (IAT).
Design/methodology/approach – The author uses work from political science, specifically Adcock and Collier in conversation with Gerring to consider if the American Dream concept is “good.” The author continues by contending that the work on the state, its power and reach, can assist with the reconceptualization of IAT and the American Dream concept theoretically and methodologically.
Findings – The author finds that the American Dream concept, while not completely inadequate, significantly departs from Adams’ original definition in The Epic of America while also being associated with mixed findings as it relates to race and the likelihood of violence. The author concludes that through critical work (e.g., Moten’s “The Case for Blackness” and Ahmed’s “Phenomenology of Whiteness”) that in order to better develop this basis of desire in the American Dream concept there is a need to integrate a growing body of work that critically engages with the legacy of racial violence and racialized social conditioning. The author concludes that by studying the ontology/phenomenon of race, understandings of cultural desire may be understood in order to inform IAT.
Originality/value – This chapter provides a framework for evaluating concepts with interdisciplinary conversations with political science. The author’s findings also add to a body of work that, through cross-disciplinary conversations, work to tease out the socio-ecological and historical conditions that influence the interaction of structure and culture that lead to anomie and ultimately deviance.
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgments
Financial support was provided by National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program under Grant No. 13218406, the UC Office of the President HBCU Fellowship, and the University of California, Irvine Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. Additional thanks to James Pratt, Sr. for comments on earlier drafts.
Citation
Pratt, J.B. (2018), "Considering an “Alternative Capacity to Desire”: Institutional Anomie Theory, the American Dream, and the Ontological Turn", Deflem, M. (Ed.) Homicide and Violent Crime (Sociology of Crime, Law and Deviance, Vol. 23), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 177-196. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1521-613620180000023011
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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