Anomie and alienation: Necessity of discrimination between the concepts

The proposed paper attempts to reanalyze the relation between two classical sociological concepts, anomie and alienation. The two theories appeared and developed separately, but with the institutionalization of psychological anomie the theory of anomie became not only close but even mixed with alienation. The separation between a “progressive” or chronic anomie and a sharp anomie was firstly made by Durkheim in “The Suicide”. The chronic anomie is characterized by a wide spectrum of possibilities and leads to increasing and unappeasable desires and aspirations. It became unavoidable for the industrial society. The sharp anomie is characterized by crises, social changes unbalancing social mechanisms.
The separation between the psychological and social anomie was suggested by Srole followed later by Merton. The social anomie is thus a social situation, characterized by lack of norms and regulations (Durkheim), and or the gap between the culturally supported goals and institutional means of fulfilling them (Merton). Anomie characterizes the condition of social surround. Anomia is an individual psychological condition (as a consequence of anomie), characterized by social malintegration (feelings of alienation, feebleness, helplessness, loneliness, etc.). It is a condition of particular people (Merton). It is anomia that is often being mixed with alienation. Crucial is to separate the two terms for a better possibility of applying these concepts.