One of the dominant criminological research traditions emerged from the works of Emile Durkheim and Robert Merton, who posited that weak social bonds would lead to feelings of anomie (a lack of connection to society), which would in turn result in “strain,” eventually leading to deviant behavior in some individuals. The current research analyzed survey data from 177 undergraduate college students to explore the association between anomie and deviance. The survey probed indicators of self-transcendent and self-enhancing value orientation among the participants, as well as self-reported delinquency. Results indicate that the state of anomie leads to a cognitive state, termed microanomie, in which self-enhancing values are prioritized over self-transcending values. Results also show how microanomie may explain gender differences in offending behavior. The findings thus challenge the centrality of “strain” in the relationship between anomie and deviance. An integration of the affective mechanisms of strain theory with the cognitive effects of microanomie, demonstrated in this study, is suggested to gain a more complete understanding of micro-level factors leading to deviance. Future research in this vein should focus on examining in more depth the impact of microanomie on gender differences in deviant behavior. Tables, references, appendixes