ANOMIE, ALIENATION AND THE EVALUATION OF SOCIAL STRUCTURES

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to discuss and analyse the use of the concepts of anomie, alienation and egoism in recent sociological literature; to relate the$e concepts to their original use by Durkheim and Marx; and to examine the extent to which these concepts may be used to show a connection between sociology and ethics - that is, the extent to which it is legitimate to derive an evaluation of social structures fronl a description of them.