anomie

English

Alternative forms

• anomy

Etymology

From French anomie, from Ancient Greek ἀνομία (anomía, “lawlessness”), from ἄνομος (ánomos, “lawless”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + νόμος (nómos, “law”). Popularized by French sociologist Émile Durkheim.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈæn.ə.mi/, /a.noʊ̯ˈmi/

Noun

anomie (countable and uncountable, plural anomies)

1. Alienation or social instability caused by erosion of standards and values.
   • 2019, Kathryn Edin, Timothy Nelson, Andrew Cherlin, Robert Francis, “The Tenuous Attachments of Working-Class Men”, in Journal of Economic Perspectives:

     This is in line with sociologist Emile Durkheim's seminal study Suicide (1897 [1997]), which argued that "anomie", or normlessness, could explain variations in suicide rates across countries and time.

   • 2020, Freda Adler, The Legacy of Anomie Theory, Routledge, →ISBN:

     Although the hypotheses on what causes anomie are different and reflect the social conditions of different societies, the concept itself refers to the same idea/phenomenon: a weakening of the guiding power of social norms, a loosened social control.

   • 2020 March, Jess Bergman, “I’m Not Feeling Good at All”, in The Baffler‎^[1], number 50:

     No wonder, then, that all of these women are consigned to their lot. What’s the point? From adolescent traumas to adulthood indignities, their anomie has been overdetermined.

   • 2021 December 24, Michiko Kakutani, “Didion’s Prophetic Eye on America”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:

     In fact, one of the recurrent themes in all Didion’s books, both fiction and nonfiction, is Americans’ penchant for reinventing themselves, their belief in fresh starts and second acts — a faith, on the one hand, that helped settle this country and fueled the American dream, and yet, on the other, has resulted in rootlessness and anomie, the discarding of personal and public history.

   • 2022 May 21, Peter Bradshaw, “Triangle of Sadness review – heavy-handed satire on the super-rich loses its shape”, in The Guardian‎^[3]:

     [T]hey duly make the acquaintance of all the dysfunctional, boorish and anomie-stricken super-rich on board, including a hateful elderly Brit couple with the Churchillian names of Winston and Clementine.

   • 2024 July 30, Dan Brooks, “Do you ever get the feeling that we’re living in a postmodern fiction? You’re not alone”, in The Guardian‎^[4], →ISSN:

     Stories about technology-driven anomie and lives that had become unmoored from meaningful values were thrilling to readers in the 1980s and 1990s, but to be a character in such stories is a different thing.

Coordinate terms

• anarchy, lawlessness

Derived terms

• anomic (adjective)

Translations

alienation or social instability

• Czech: anomie f
• Danish: anomi c
• Dutch: anomie (nl) f, wetteloosheid (nl) f
• Finnish: anomia
• French: anomie (fr) f
• German: Anomie (de) f
• Indonesian: anomi (id)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: anomi m

  Nynorsk: anomi m

• Polish: anomia (pl) f
• Portuguese: anomia (pt) f
• Russian: аноми́я (ru) f (anomíja)
• Serbo-Croatian: anomija (sh), otuđenje, alijenacija
• Spanish: anomia (es) f
• Turkish: anomi

Further reading

• anomie on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Anemoi, Maione

Czech

Noun

anomie f

1. anomie

Declension

Declension of anomie (soft feminine)

	singular	plural
nominative	anomie	anomie
genitive	anomie	anomií
dative	anomii	anomiím
accusative	anomii	anomie
vocative	anomie	anomie
locative	anomii	anomiích
instrumental	anomií	anomiemi

Dutch

Etymology

First attested in 1749. Borrowed from French anomie, from Ancient Greek ἀνομία (anomía, “lawlessness”), from Ancient Greek ἄνομος (ánomos, “lawless”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌaː.noːˈmi/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ano‧mie
• Rhymes: -i

Noun

anomie f (uncountable)

1. lawlessness
   • 1749, Wilhelmus Peiffers, Agt korte t'zamenspraken; ingerigt tot onpartydig onderoek en genoegzame wederlegginge van de herrnhuttery, publ. by Gerardus Borstius.

     Z. Het eene met het andere vergeleken levert uit de klaarſte blyken van Antinomie en Anomie.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (sociology) anomie

Derived terms

• anomisch

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀνομία (anomía, “lawlessness”), from ἄνομος (ánomos, “lawless”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + νόμος (nómos, “law”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.nɔ.mi/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

anomie f (plural anomies)

1. anomie

Descendants

Descendants

• → Czech: anomie
• → Dutch: anomie
• → English: anomie
• → Finnish: anomia
• → Italian: anomia
• → Norwegian Bokmål: anomi
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: anomi
• → Polish: anomia
• → Portuguese: anomia
• → Romanian: anomie
• → Spanish: anomia

See also

• anarchie

Further reading

• “anomie”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French anomie.

Noun

anomie f (uncountable)

1. anomie