NCJ Number
218983
Journal
Justice Quarterly Volume: 24 Issue: 2 Dated: June 2007 Pages: 271-290
Date Published
June 2007
Length
20 pages
Annotation
Utilizing the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the formulation of the Russian Federation, this paper examines the potentially disintegrative effects of rapid social change on deviance and evaluates Durkheim’s theory of social deregulation.
Abstract
Consistent with social deregulation theory, it was found that the Russian Federation experienced significant permanent increases in the level of homicides and alcohol-related deaths and a more dramatic, but short-lived, increase in the suicide rate in the years following the breakup of the Soviet Union. In a final analysis, there was no doubt that the breakup was associated with a rise in the level of deviant behavior within the Russian Federation. During times of rapid social change from one type of social species to another, people are freer to follow individual desires, and so higher rates of deviance are expected until the social system adapts new mechanisms of control and reaches a new equilibrium. This appears to be occurring in Russia. The dissolution of the Soviet Union resulted in sudden, widespread, and fundamental changes to Russian society. The former social welfare system was dismantled in the shift toward democracy. This shift provides an opportunity to examine the potentially disintegrative effects of rapid social change on the social cohesion of complex social systems or the social deregulation hypothesis. It also offers an opportunity to evaluate one of Durkheim’s core beliefs; that rapid social change disrupts social order, thereby increasing the level of crime and deviance. Figures, tables, references