Continuities in the Anomie Tradition

Bibliographic Data

ID20044971
AuthorsNikos Passas (corresponding author)
Year2020
Pages91-112
Publication date2020-03-06
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueLegacy of Anomie Theory (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1201/9780429335945-5
OpenAlexW3013890034
ISBN9780429335945
LanguageEN
Citations received7

In many ways, R. K. Merton’s anomie theory, like all Western sociology since the nineteenth century, may be regarded as a response to what Gouldner referred to as a “diffuse utilitarian culture”. Anomie denotes for both of them a social state of things in which the authority or legitimacy of conventional norms and values has diminished. Moreover, anomie may be regarded as a “middle-range concept.” Lukes has argued that, like alienation, anomie refers to phenomena that have many aspects: some of them being universal and others specific to designated societies or institutions. Anomie allows for and facilitates the study of social change. Normative and value conflicts may also induce strains and anomie. One can speak of an “anomie tradition,” a tradition that owes a great deal to E. Durkheim and Merton. The chapter aims to highlight the contours of this tradition and to show the continuing vitality and usefulness of the concept

Anomie · Criminology · Epistemology · Sociology · Anthropology · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Emile Durkheim and Sociology · Philosophy · Weber, Simmel, Sociological Theory

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