A social condition in which shared norms have weakened or broken down, leaving individuals without clear standards to guide behaviour.

How is anomie different from alienation?

Anomie concerns the weakening of norms in society. Alienation concerns an individual's estrangement from work, from others or from themselves.

Anomie

noun

/ˈæn.ə.mi/

A state of normlessness or social disintegration in which shared norms and values break down, leaving individuals without clear moral guidelines, resulting in social instability, alienation, and deviant behaviour; coined by Émile Durkheim to describe the condition of societies undergoing rapid change

✍️ Usage in a UPSC answer

Rapid urbanisation in India has produced conditions of anomie among rural migrants — severed from caste-based community networks and village norms but not yet integrated into the impersonal, formal-rule-governed life of the city.

Synonyms

normlessnesssocial disintegrationmoral vacuumrootlessnesssocial drift

Antonyms

social cohesionnormative orderintegrationsolidarity

🌱 Word Family

anomie (n), anomic (adj), anomy (variant n)

🔡 Root

Greek anomia = lawlessness (a- = without + nomos = law/custom/norm)

📜 Etymology

The concept was developed by French sociologist Émile Durkheim in The Division of Labour in Society (1893) and Suicide (1897); Durkheim identified anomie as a pathology of modern industrial societies where traditional norms erode faster than new ones form; Robert Merton later adapted it to explain deviance in American society

🧠 Memory Hook

A + NOMIE = A-NOMY: WITHOUT (a) NORMS (nomos) — a society without rules, where nobody knows what the norms are

🎯 How This Word Works in UPSC Writing

A condition in which shared norms weaken or lose their hold, leaving individuals without clear guidance on conduct. In GS1 it is the standard analytical frame for rapid social change: migration, urbanisation and the loosening of village-level social control can outpace the formation of new norms. Use it for normlessness specifically, not as a general word for disorder.

⚖️ Don’t Confuse It With

Anomie is the breakdown or weakening of shared norms. Alienation is estrangement from work, others or oneself, which is a different mechanism. Deviance is behaviour departing from norms that are still in force. Anarchy is absence of government rather than of norms.

🇮🇳 Hindi Meaning

अनोमी (anomī) is used as a loanword; descriptively मानकहीनता (mānakhīntā), normlessness.

❓ Common Questions

What is anomie?: A social condition in which shared norms have weakened or broken down, leaving individuals without clear standards to guide behaviour.
How is anomie different from alienation?: Anomie concerns the weakening of norms in society. Alienation concerns an individual's estrangement from work, from others or from themselves.

👥 Society 📖 Seen in: Salient Features of Indian Society — D...

Relevant across:GS1 · History, Geography & Society

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