ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on early sociological ideas in a discussion of the pathological aspects of modernity. With a particular emphasis on the theoretical concepts of anomie and recognition, it introduces the works of Emile Durkheim and the contemporary German social-philosopher Axel Honneth and their perspectives on individualisation, morality and social cohesion. The chapter conncects their strands of thought in a comparative discussion on the possible explanations and solutions to the prevalent experiences of inadequacy, malaise and loss of meaning that characterise many people's lives in contemporary society. It summarizes, anomie represents a societal state of crisis which, in addition to causing inexpedient financial fluctuations, growing unemployment rates and social inequality, also manifests itself as personal feelings of hopelessness, depression, apathy, exhaustion and, in the extreme case, suicide. Honneth's theory of recognition thus represents a social philosophical exploration of the normative premises for "the good life".
