The last decade has seen a revived interest in using anomie theory in crime and deviance research. This paper examines a particular extension of anomie theory, one that uses a strain of thought critical of liberal society and that links crime with societal level processes. Institutional-Anomie theory incorporates a strain of social thought that sees the market economy, if left unregulated by other social institutions, as inherently obtrusive to human organization. In Institutional-Anomie theory, anomic pressures arise when a nexus of reinforcing cultural patterns develops, producing an overemphasis on the market ethic and undermining the regulatory power of social norms (because of the weakening of the family's regulatory function, the education system, and the political system.) As a result, individuals feel an overriding pressure to achieve and at the same time are confronted with weak normative restraints on legitimate means to achieve. Informing research with a theory of social organization has been "the road not taken" in crime and deviance research. The anomie tradition continues to be a medium to understand the impact of contemporary social change on crime. Notes, references