Anomie is a state of public or individual moral and mental consciousness, which is characterized by the corruption of moral norms, the collapse of the moral and value system. The concept of anomie was proposed by French sociologist Emile Durkheim to interpret deviant behavioral responses, for example, suicidal intentions, illegal acts. The state of anomie is inherent in society in times of unrest, revolutions, perestroika, social crisis, due to the contradiction between the promulgated goals and their impracticability for the prevailing part of the subjects, that is, in those periods when the majority of members of a particular society lose confidence in the existing moral values, moral guidelines and social institutions. The problem of anomie is closely related to professional degradation, disappointment in life and activities, and the alienation of the individual from society, which invariably accompanies the phenomenon described.
Social anomie
In the course of a rather abrupt change in the goals and morality of a certain society, certain social categories cease to feel their own involvement in this society.
The concept of anomie is a process of destruction of the fundamental foundations of culture, in particular ethical norms. As a result, such categories of citizens are alienated. In addition, they reject new social ideals, norms and morals, including socially proclaimed patterns of behavior. Instead of using generally accepted means of achieving individual or social goals, they put forward their own, often illegal ones.
The state of anomie, affecting all layers of the population during social upheavals, has a particularly strong impact on young people.
In sociology, anomie is any type of “deviation” in the value and normative system of society. Durkheim first introduced the term anomie. He considered anomie to be the absence of law, norms of behavior or their insufficiency. Durkheim emphasized that the problem of anomie arises more often in conditions of dynamic reforms and during periods of economic crises. The described concept provokes a certain psychological state of the individual, characterized by a feeling of loss of life guidelines, which arises when the subject faces the need to implement contradictory norms. In other words, such a state arises when the old hierarchy is destroyed and the new one has not yet formed. Until social forces, which are left to themselves in times of crisis, come into balance, their comparative value cannot be taken into account, therefore, any regulation is found to be untenable for some time.
Later, this phenomenon is understood as a state of society caused by the redundancy of contradictory norms (Merton anomie). In such conditions, the individual is lost, not understanding exactly what norms need to be followed. The integrity of the normative system and the order of regulation of social relationships are collapsing. People in the described conditions are socially disoriented, they experience anxiety, a feeling of isolation from society, which naturally provokes deviant behavioral responses, crime, marginality and other asocial phenomena.
Durkheim saw the causes of anomie in the contrast between the “established” and modern industrial society.
The problem of anomie is caused by the transitional nature of the historical period, a temporary decline in the moral regulation of new economic-capitalist relations.
Anomie is a product of incomplete transformation from mechanical unity to organic unity, since the objective foundation of the latter (the social distribution of labor) progresses more intensively than it finds a moral basis in the collective consciousness.
Factors in the emergence of anomie: a collision of two categories of socially generated phenomena (the first is interests and needs, the second is a resource for their satisfaction). According to Durkheim, a prerequisite for personal integrity is a cohesive and stable society. Under generally accepted orders, the abilities of individuals and their needs were provided quite simply, since they were kept at a low level by the corresponding collective consciousness, preventing the development of individualism, personal liberation, setting strict limits on what a subject could achieve legally in a given social position. The hierarchical feudal society (traditional) was constant because it set different goals for different layers and allowed each of its members to feel their own existence meaningful within a limited closed layer.
The development of the social process provokes the growth of “individualization” and at the same time undermines the strength of group supervision and the stable moral boundaries inherent in the old times. The degree of personal freedom from traditions, group mores, prejudices, the presence of individual choice of knowledge and means of action expands sharply in new conditions. The relatively free structure of industrial society ceases to determine the life activity of individuals and constantly recreates anomie, which implies the absence of stable life ideals, norms and patterns of behavior, which puts most people in a position of uncertainty, depriving them of collective unity, a sense of connection with a certain category and with the entire society in general. All of the above leads to an increase in deviant and self-destructive behavioral reactions in society.
Origin
Most scientists have wondered and are still asking the question: where does anomie come from, what factors in the development of personality influence the fact that a person becomes “wrong” and violates generally accepted norms. Answering these questions, Durkheim, for example, believed that the concept of anomie is a certain state of society in which there is no necessary moral regulation of people’s behavior.
Or rather, it existed, but lost its relevance, and the new norms have not yet taken root. It turns out that such a society can be called anarchic in some way. People lose faith in each other, and sometimes in themselves, experience constant nervous tension, are subject to stress, and ultimately acquire deviant behavior. A striking example of such a phenomenon as social anomie is the post-perestroika period in Russia - the 90s.
Most scientists believe that the reasons for social anomie are the presence of a large number of social norms that contradict each other, so people - especially the younger generation - experience a kind of “inconsistency”: they do not understand how to behave correctly, and what behavior will be deviant.
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Robert Merton, studying anomie, said that anomie often occurs not when a person has greater freedom of choice, but when he cannot follow certain norms. He considered an example of such behavior to be that all Americans strive for wealth, but not everyone has the opportunity to achieve their goal through legal means. Those who fail to do this begin to do it illegally.
But we cannot exclude the fact that the state of anomie is sometimes useful for society. In particular, this phenomenon can act as a driver of progress, and the boundaries between normal and abnormal behavior are very fluid, both in time and space. Remember, if in the last century our grandmothers could hardly imagine a woman in trousers, today this is quite a common occurrence.
Social norm and social anomie
One of the fundamental concepts of sociology is the social norm, which is considered as a mechanism for assessing and regulating the behavioral response of individuals, categories and social communities. Social norms are instructions, attitudes, and expectations of appropriate (socially approved) behavior. Norms are some ideal patterns that determine what individuals should say, think, feel and do under certain conditions. The system of norms that operate in a particular society forms an integral set, the various structural elements of which are interdependent.
Social norms are the responsibility of one individual in relation to another or the social environment. They determine the formation of a network of social relations of a group, society. Social norms also represent the expectations of groups of different sizes and of society as a whole. The surrounding society expects a certain behavioral response from each individual who adheres to the norms. Social norms determine the development of a system of social relationships, including motivation, ideals, aspirations of the subjects of action, expectations, and evaluation.
A social condition consisting in the loss by its members of the significance of social attitudes and ideals, which provokes an increase in deviant behavior, is called social anomie. In addition, it manifests itself:
- in the absence of standards of comparison among people, social assessment of their own behavior, which provokes an “lumpenized” state and loss of group unity;
- in the inconsistency of social goals with the approved methods of achieving them, which pushes individuals towards illegal means of achieving them if the goals set are unattainable through legal means.
Sociologists, comparing the concepts of anomie and deviant behavior, considered the point of intersection of their non-compliance by members of society with the norms established by it. The main difference between the terms anomie and deviant behavior lies in the social scale of the factors that provoked their manifestation. The nature of anomie goes much deeper. It is caused by serious social transformations that affect society as a single system and its individual members.
Anomie in modern society
Modern Russian society is also in a state of instability, and there is a destruction of values. People do not feel confident in the future, they do not have time to adapt to rapidly changing guidelines and dominant values, and they experience financial difficulties. There was the same reorientation from moral values to physical survival. The destruction of values leads to professional degradation of people, disappointment in themselves and life, their work, and loss of self-identity.
Thoughts that concern modern citizens, especially young people:
- “hopes for a better life have been destroyed, there will be no improvement in its quality and level”;
- “my future and the future of the country is unclear, it’s not worth having children now”;
- “I’m scared to live, I don’t feel stability or security”;
- “I feel vulnerable, I don’t know what to do or where to go”;
- “I don’t understand who I should be, what to do, I don’t know what I want”;
- “I know what I want, but I don’t know how to achieve it”;
- “everything is so unclear, it’s difficult for a simple person like me to understand what’s happening in the country”;
- “now everything is devalued, only money, connections, personal success are important”;
- “everyone lives one day at a time, doesn’t think about the future”;
- “I’m not sure of anything and I can’t trust anyone, now I can’t trust anyone.”
Chaos, apathy, confusion, market and consumer attitudes, social infantilism, restlessness, uselessness - this is how we can briefly characterize the state of modern society and each individual person. As a result, we already have three so-called lost generations. Representatives of one of them are about 50 years old, but they still do not understand how to live in this world. The youngest generation is distinguished by its revolutionary, extremist orientation. Some of them clearly understand what they want to achieve in life, but at the same time the interests of the country and the entire society are not important to them. The middle generation is focused on consumption and market relations. However, most of him was mired in alcohol and drugs, channeling his lack of demand in society there.
How to deal with anomie? Find out the cause and the conflict that gave rise to it, eliminate it. It is necessary to choose one of the systems that are relevant at a given time, or create something completely new, or borrow someone’s ready-made system, for example, turn to the past.
Decay, decay and crime
It has already been noted that anomie is predominantly studied by sociology; in sociology, Durkheim, for example, identified this concept with the state of a decaying and degrading society, where there are no norms that previously acted as guarantors of social order. Most often, anomie manifests itself as:
- Instability of social norms.
- The impossibility of morality to influence society.
- Lack of regulators of people's behavior during critical periods.
Further, this concept of anomie was somewhat refined by R. Merton. He, like his predecessor, argued that anomie is a completely natural phenomenon, which is caused by the destruction of ethical standards.
If the old moral standards are outdated or simply ceased to be perceived by some part of society, and they are not replaced by new principles, values are replaced, and people often begin to behave illegally. Moreover, the phenomenon of anomie and deviant behavior can be observed in all layers of society, but still, first of all, it is inherent in the younger generation.
It turns out that having lost generally accepted norms, a person chooses his own style of behavior and often becomes a criminal. Moreover, the sociological approach to the phenomenon of crime is very interesting.
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For example, Durkheim considered it a completely normal phenomenon that does not allow society to stop in its development. And this phenomenon is almost impossible to eradicate - even if society gets rid of maniacs, robbers, killers, etc., then soon criminal acts will appear again, but they will be somewhat different, ones that did not exist before.
If there are no criminals, then there will be no wrong role model of behavior in society, which is necessary in order for normal members of society to form. And at the same time, Durkheim noted that the intensity of antisocial behavior grows regardless of the political state of society or the level of development of its economy, if two basic conditions are met:
- In society there is an ideal of some common good introduced for everyone.
- Most of society has no legal means of achieving the ideal.
