The role of anomie as a psychological concept.

Abstract

The term anomie originated in religious philosophy about the end of the sixteenth century, and had approximately its current meaning reflecting planlessness, uncertainty and doubt. It reappeared from time to time in religious and philosophical writings throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Durkheim introduced the term into the social sciences in 1893 (TO), and later used it as an explanatory concept in his theory of suicide (I I). Since the concept of anomie only recently has aroused interest in psychology, and since there are no up-to-date reviews available, the authors hope that this paper will help fill a gap in the current literature.