Citation

Messner SF. Soc. Forces 1982; 61(1): 225-240.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1982, Social Forces Journal, Publisher University of North Carolina Press)

DOI

10.2307/2578083

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to formulate and test a Durkheimian model of societal development and homicide. Relying heavily on Anthony Giddens' recent reinterpretation of the Division of Labor, we argue that development has no overall effect on the societal homicide rate primarily because the egalitarian changes accompanying development make for new forms of social solidarity. Our theory leads us to predict that there will be no significant zero-order relationship between development and homicide, a positive partial effect of measures of moral individualism on homicide, and a negative partial effect of a measure of equality on homicide. The results of a cross-sectional analysis for a sample of 50 nations provide partial support for the theory.