Anomie The word comes from Greek ανομία, namely the prefix a- "without", and nomos "law". The Greeks distinguished between nomos (νόμος, "law"), and arché (αρχή, "starting rule, axiom, principle"). For example, a monarch is a single ruler but he or she might still be subject to, and not exempt from, the prevailing laws, i.e. nomos. In the original city state democracy, the majority rule was an aspect of arché because it was a rule-based, customary system, which might or might not make laws, i.e. nomos. Thus, the original meaning of anomie defined anything or anyone against or outside the law, or a condition where the current laws were not applied resulting in a state of illegitimacy or lawlessness. The contemporary English understanding of the word anomie can accept greater flexibility in the word "norm", and some have used the idea of normlessness to reflect a similar situation to the idea of anarchy. But, as used by Émile Durkheim and later theorists, anomie is a reaction against or a retreat from the regulatory social controls of society, and is a completely separate concept from anarchy, which consists is the absence of the roles of rulers and submitted.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Jul 2013 03:49:22 +0000
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