ABSTRACT
The second hypothesis comes from the sociology of science: perhaps anomie is to Marxist sociology what alienation is to Marxist sociology: alienation and anomie describe in two different theoretical frameworks the idea of a fundamental deregulation or breakdown of relations between the individual and society (cf. ‘Alienation’). Most sociologists, from Durkheim to Merton, agree in their assessment that these phenomena of deregulation are not exclusively a result of class struggle. Such a negative agreement is perhaps the main reason for the longevity of a notion with such varied meanings.
