Definition of anomie Anomie

/æˈnʌmi/ - [anumee] - an•o•mie

We found 6 definitions of anomie from 5 different sources.

What does anomie mean?

WordNet

Noun Plural: anomies
anomie - personal state of isolation and anxiety resulting from a lack of social control and regulation
		anomy
		isolation the act of isolating something; setting something apart from others
anomie - lack of moral standards in a society
		anomy

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Wiktionary

anomie (Noun)
Alienation or social instability caused by erosion of standards and values.

OmegaWiki DictionaryOmegaWiki Dictionary Ω

anomie
Lack of norms in a society.

Wikipedia

Anomie means a condition when a person has no (or only little) standards or values.

In context with society or government it means social unrest.

Etymology.

The word comes from Greek, namely the prefix "a-" “without”, and "nomos" “law”. The original meaning of "anomie" was "against or outside the law".

In contemporary English the word "anomie" can mean not only normlessness but also anarchy. Émile Durkheim and later theorists, meant with "anomie" a reaction against or a retreat from the regulatory social controls of society, and is a completely separate concept from anarchy which is an absence of effective rulers or leaders.

Anomie in literature and film.

In Albert Camus’s existentialist novel "The Stranger", the protagonist Meursault struggles to construct an individual system of values as he responds to the disappearance of the old. He exists largely in a state of "anomie", as seen from the apathy evinced in the opening lines: "“Aujourd’hui, maman est morte. Ou peut-être hier, je ne sais pas”" (“Today Mother died. Or maybe yesterday, I don't know.”)

Dostoevsky, whose work is often considered a philosophical precursor to existentialism, often expressed a similar concern in his novels. In The Brothers Karamazov, the character Dimitri Karamazov asks his atheist friend Rakitin, ”...without God and immortal life? All things are lawful then, they can do what they like?” Raskolnikov, the anti-hero of Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment, puts this philosophy into action when he