A Reconstruction of Max Weber's Conception of Anomie

The theoretical legacy of Max Weber has already been studied by many generations of sociologists, and every aspect of his works has been examined in detail. Despite this, in Weber's works, one can find unexplored ideas that are of great importance for sociology and contribute to the actualization of Weber's creativity. In particular, Weber considered the phenomenon of anomie and even suggested its original interpretation. This allows us to consider Weber as one of the founders of the theory of anomie along with Durkheim, Merton and Srol. Weber connected the development of anomie with the religious perception of the world by man. He singles out asceticism as an active mastery of the world and mysticism as a contemplative rejection of the world. In its extreme degree, mysticism takes the form of anomie when a person so directs their thoughts toward God that they completely disregard the norms and values that prevail in society. The anomie described by Weber is a characteristic of eastern religions such as Buddhism or Hinduism and therefore was undeservedly ignored by the anomie theorists who were interested in the anomie of the Western society. The concept of Weber's anomie is extremely interesting since it can be used in the case of reconceptualization. A person's complete orientation toward religion can be replaced by a full orientation toward other things. In the modern world, a person can be totally focused on game addiction, subculture or something like that. When analyzing the social behavior of people whose interests are not related to the interests of the surrounding society, Weber's explanatory scheme will work. Weber's anomie is described as a state in which ethical, legal and practical considerations of everyday life become indifferent to a person. In general, Weber's anomie can be defined as the absence of definitive ethical values. Anomie in this interpretation is extremely destructive as it undermines the goal-oriented action, and therefore all social behavior as such. As a result, Weber's anomie leads to the erosion of the norms of law and everyday norms of a moral behavior. The great advantage of Weber's concept of anomie is that it simultaneously affects the anomie of a person and the anomie of society. Most other concepts interpret only one aspect of this phenomenon. Comprehension and reconceptualization of Weber's anomie theory can give stimulus to the development of criminology and the sociology of deviant behavior, the creation on their basis of programs of practical activities for the prevention of crime and deviation.

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