The effect of socioeconomic status and anomie on illegal behavior

Abstract

The purpose of the current study is to investigate the relationships between socioeconomic status (SES), feeling of anomie, and law-breaking behavior or illegality. A sample of 480 students has been randomly selected from Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz in Iran. The results revealed that SES had significant negative correlation with anomie and non-significant correlation with illegality. Anomie had positive correlation with illegal behavior and the fetishism of money dimension had the greatest effect on illegality. The result is discussed with regard to the socio-cultural sphere of Iran as well as with regard to the previous anomie theories including Merton, and Messner and Rosenfeld theories.