A room of one’s own? The consequences of living density on individual well-being and social anomie

The global housing affordability crisis and COVID shutdowns have put living space inequality back on the political agenda. Drawing on Durkheim’s theory of anomie and density, this paper argues that on how many square meters a society lives matters for how stable or anomic it develops. Using data from the Swiss Household Panel, we examine the selection, short-term, and dynamic effects associated with transitions to overcrowded and under-occupied dwellings. We conceptualize these transitions as disruptive events that require a reconfiguration of personal and social equilibria in individuals’ lives. While overcrowded housing leads to a heightening of emotional states and more tense internal household dynamics, people respond by adjusting their leisure activities and restructuring their support networks from strong to weak ties. Conversely, moving to an under-occupied dwelling is associated with melancholic emotional stabilization, but improves household balance and leads to consolidation of the core network of relatives at the expense of outer social circles. We conclude that the classical characterization of anomie as a mismatch between personal means and societal ends should be understood as a multifaceted phenomenon in which meso-level social networks can be a crucial means to cope with disruptions that arise at other levels.