ABSTRACT
This chapter shows the relationship between economic crisis, globalisation of the economy and the emergence of anomie in some Western African countries, most notably in Ivory Coast, Mali, and Senegal. It argues that anomie implies a dysfunctioning between the social regulation system and the activities of social and economic agents. Economic performance was based on agricultural commodities, extensive use of land, foreign capital and foreign labour. The economic crisis can be related to some accidental factors such as oil crisis or downturns on commodity markets. The economic structures on which integration with international markets is based, are fragile. Social integration has been partly assured by a huge network of solidarity and wealth redistribution. This network has been put under pressure notably by the economic crisis. Globalisation, which progresses fast at the macroeconomic level, encounters numerous resistances at the social level.
