Not Just Another Test of Institutional Anomie Theory: Assessing Relative Institutional Imbalances

Institutional Anomie Theory (IAT) proposes high violent crime rates are due partially to imbalances in societal institutions, specifically the dominance of the economy over non-economic institutions. Tests of IAT have focused largely on the absolute strength of the economy, which ignores the core argument of institutional imbalance and the possibility that institutional preferences may not be additive and limited. If one institution is strong, it does not mean other institutions are weak. We believe rigorous tests of IAT must include its central concept of relative institutional imbalance. Utilizing the World Values Survey for a sample of 74 nations, we created institutional imbalance ratios for each pairing of the economy with family, education, religion, and polity. We employed multiple regression to determine if our measures of institutional preferences were associated with homicide victimization rates. Results indicated only the Economic:Education institutional imbalance ratio was positively and significantly associated with national homicide rates.