(Fr., deriving from Gk., no law) A state of breakdown and chaos. The term is particularly associated with Durkheim, for whom anomie characterizes periods of loosening of social norms, when the loss of authority tends to release moral bonds, produce unlimited desires, and cause increased rates of suicide. Anomie characterizes social states and is not the same as the fundamentally psychological notion of alienation, although like that it may be a relatively permanent condition of fragmented modern societies.
Philosophy dictionary. Academic. 2011.