Anomie in the Oil Patch

• In Event: Poster Session

Abstract

The recent rapid increase in oil production in Western North Dakota has garnered a great deal of attention on the national level. However, the production of oil is not the only thing drawing attention to Western North Dakota. Rising crime rates and an increase in a number of social ills has accompanied the prosperity of oil production. This poster will introduce some preliminary findings of a larger study that examines the rising rates of crime and other social problems within the socioeconomic context that currently exists in the oil producing regions of Western North Dakota. On a theoretical level this poster will introduce Durkheim’s theory of anomie as an explanation for the rising rates of crime and other social problems that appear to have accompanied the increase in oil production.

Author

• Fred M. Jones, University of North Dakota