In every culture, at every stage of history from the beginning of time, individuals have been faced with the questions: Who am I? Why am I here? How can I make a contribution to society?

These were the questions that engaged my mind as a young man over forty years ago while sitting in a dentist's waiting room, my attention riveted by a magazine article on the subject of Anomie [1], a sociological concept developed and elaborated by Emile Durkheim.

Durkheim described this condition as a breakdown in the normal framework of our lives; the overturning of rules and expectations, and a loss of the sense of one's place in society and status vis-a-vis other people. The condition was observed by Durkheim as occurring mainly in cities within industrial society during times of rapid social change, both upward and downward. It appeared to give rise to grave psychological and sociological problems in those subjected to its demoralizing effects.

Reading this absorbing article jolted me into re-evaluating the course my life was currently taking. I was determined to discover more about these pressing problems facing contemporary industrial society and place myself in a position where I could better understand them and perhaps contribute to combating their disruptive social consequences.

After this revelation, I was unable to settle back into what I now saw as my humdrum administrative role. Within a few months, I left my job and enrolled as a mature student in a university degree course studying social science with an emphasis on sociology. What was even stranger was that I – a “canny” Presbyterian – had been lured off the “straight and narrow” by a bunch of philosophers, sociologists and psychologists and was now questioning the essential nature of man, his place in society and my role in contributing to an understanding of that society's evolution.

However, I subsequently felt justified in my decision to switch my life course upon discovering that the illustrious origins of this timeless, universal search for self-knowledge was evidenced in the admonition, "Know thyself," found inscribed on the pronaos of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi according to the Greek writer Pausanias. The phrase was later expounded upon by Socrates the philosopher who taught that the unexamined life was not worth living.

It was shortly after commencing my course that I discovered another social theory which initially seemed diametrically opposed yet, on closer study, exhibited many similarities to that of Emile Durkheim. This was Karl Marx's concept of “Alienation.” In it he attempted to describe the repression and lack of self-worth experienced by individuals subjected to the forces, demands and exploitation exerted by industrial society. Marx believed that this alienation was manifested in several ways. Individuals were:

• Alienated from the products of their labor
• Alienated from their own particular activity within the labor process
• Alienated from their “Species Being” [2]
• Alienated from other people

The central hub of his concept was that individuals subjected to one or more of these several forms of alienation could only fulfill themselves completely through the development of their Species Being. Attaining that Species Being was therefore essential to their wellbeing and fulfillment.

Marx believed that nothing was inherently implanted in human nature. While our natural biological constitution produces appetites, needs, and propensities, these are shaped by the historical factors encountered daily. People can transcend their situation through action and social interaction, transforming their nature into that of fulfilled species beings. The major hindrances to achieving this were created by points one and two above - alienation from the products of their labor and alienation from their own specific activity within the labor process.

Marx believed that the unfulfilled species being could only be achieved by the removal of the repressive factors within the existing capitalist structure. The enormous wealth being created through the division of labor was not being equitably distributed due to the alienated labor situation. A fully developed species being would counteract this imbalance, allowing for the expression of aesthetic experiences, community activities, and intellectual creativity.

Herbert Marcus, a member of the school of Critical Theory, disagreed with Marx. He saw society as irrational, believing that its productive capacity was hindered, not facilitated, by the emancipation of human needs. He suggested that individuals identified so closely with their material possessions that they transformed the objective world into an extension of their own being. Thus, the existence imposed on them by technical rationality is an even more progressive stage of alienation. Their true consciousness becomes merged with and engulfed by a one-dimensional false consciousness which pervades all spheres of their social life: "The alienated subject is swallowed up by their alienated existence." We create our images, which then become our desires. These desires motivate and eventually even obsess us.

I obtained my Bachelor of Science with Honors degree in Sociology, completing my thesis in my chosen area of study: "A Comparative Developmental Study of the Theories of Anomie and Alienation." This was a quite different direction than most of my colleagues. However, despite numerous attempts to obtain a post where I could use my recently obtained, specialized knowledge to contribute to the solution of the related problems, I was unable to do so and was eventually forced to revert to an area where I had relevant experience. My career ended up in the field of aircraft engineering, specifically in developing/writing manufacturing procedures relating to aircraft and missile design and production for several large corporations as a Senior Business Procedures Analyst. This was a long way from my chosen vocation which was the area which had held the greatest attraction for me. Consequently, I was unable to contribute to attempts towards enlightenment or effect any degree of social improvements.

This is the first time in the forty-three years since then that I have “put pen to paper” setting forth some thoughts on the original development of the concepts of these sociologists and to apply their concepts to an analysis and understanding of whether and how Anomie and Alienation still exert their influence in today's changing contemporary social conditions.

Alienation has become almost a casual everyday phrase now, losing much of the initial precision attributed to it through Marx's definition and development. While there is no diminution in the problems raised by these two concepts within today's “new technological society,” they are still as rampant as ever, merely altering their mode and direction of attack into a modern, technological milieu. Although Anomie was never as well-known as alienation and is even less so now, it is the one which arguably seems to have inserted itself into today's acquisitive society most effectively. Durkheim's “Malady of Infinite Aspiration” and the problem of “Egoism” or social isolation are more evident now than at any time in the past. It seems to me that the social factors which have re-ignited anomie are likely to continue to progress technically and continue to prove problematic in the future. Sociologists and philosophers obviously still grapple with these questions as our world evolves even more rapidly in this post-metaphysical social age. Our responses must necessarily continue to adapt to the historical and technological conditions confronting us, both individually and collectively. The evidence suggest that we are not doing a very good job of what is undoubtedly a mammoth task.                                   

This might seem paradoxical since today's society is more affluent than at any period in world history. However, it would be a mistake to equate economic affluence with peace or even social contentment; nor does it necessarily provide a sense of belonging within traditional family structures. That nuclear family has been eroded, replaced by single and one-parent families. Nowadays offspring are spread worldwide further weakening family ties as society's pace of development continues unabated.  Meanwhile, sex and gender issues add to the complex new decisions individuals must make in everyday family life.

 A large, mostly younger social group now retreats into mobile “cocoons” or internet cells, shutting out the rest of society. So called “Social Media” is anything but social, often judging individuals by its own superficial cult-driven stereotypes, verbally attacking those deemed to have fallen short of its distorted standards. It is insular, divisive, anti-social, adding nothing to our endeavors to realize humanity's true social potential – to become socialized beings with a sense of belonging to a caring and thoughtful society.

The poet John Donne's quote, "No man is an island," admittedly a tad sexist in modern terminology, is totally at odds with reality in contemporary society. Millions of individuals sit “worshipping” small flickering screens, oblivious to time; entombed, isolated beings, marooned within fictional worlds. They are most certainly “islanders” and unlikely to revert to their previous lifestyles.

In medieval society people saw themselves as part of nature. They were bonded by the feudal system and the church. Most of the country's production was agrarian-based and there was little sense of ambition for progress among the rural population. Adequate food production ensured the well-being, or at least the survival, of all the workers involved on the land.

That, however, was not to last.

The power of the guilds and the role of trade, ballooning as the growing impetus of the industrial revolution led to the emergence of capitalism, weakening church influence.

This was immediately followed by growing instability following dissolution of the feudal system. Two new factors – Mass Markets and Competition – limitless and threatening, gave rise to increased levels of freedom for all and independence for the ambitious. Many large landowners became caught up in technological developments; cotton, coal, canals and railways, to the detriment of agriculture. For the bulk of the less capable laborers, this represented a sense of uncertainty, threats, and often destitution.

Returning to Emile Durkheim's theory of Anomie – his belief was that a person's individual nature was a reflection of the social structure of the society in which they lived with all its stresses. He emphasized the need for social and moral regulation to protect people from the destructive effects of rapid economic, sociological and structural changes. He continued to propose the necessity of belonging to social groups to prevent the effects of “Egoism” (social isolation or detachment) leading to despair and alienation, even suicide.

It became apparent that even beneficiaries of this growth environment were also afflicted by what Durkheim called “The Malady of Infinite Aspiration” – continual striving for success with no ceiling on expectations and no sense of fulfillment following successful achievement.

Eric Fromm, another sociologist analyzing the same problem, based his critique of industrial society on the technique of “Humanistic Psychoanalysis” identifying two types of individual need:

• Firstly, physiological needs (such as hunger).
• Second, human yearnings rooted in the peculiar nature of existence.

He saw these basic needs as critical for people to retain a healthy mental state, experiencing nature and society in a fully human way, similar to Marx's “species being.”

Like Durkheim, he believes that modern society no longer provides individuals with the means to engage in former “clan” or religious worship functions, thus creating a sense of anxiety and isolation that was not present in the past. Freedom FROM has not been replaced with freedom TO in achieving a positive, fulfilling lifestyle.

Conclusion

What then might be the solution as far as these sociologists are concerned to help today's individual cope with this disastrous loss of identity, allied to the “morphing” of anomie and alienation by newly created factors within the modern technological world?

If the present trend continues, Fromm envisaged several possible alternatives, none of which sound particularly attractive:

• Nuclear War – civilization’s destruction and subsequent return to a primitive agrarian lifestyle for the survivors.
• Robotism resulting from the increasing continued automation and associated alienation and anomie.
• His last alternative, and only positive, solution is that we take responsibility for the life of ALL people.

First, abolish the constant threat of war through international cooperation, redistribution of total world wealth with resources placed under the administration of a world government. Work would need to be implemented on a co-management basis and returned to human proportions. These initiatives would require total consensus and concurrent implementation in the spheres of economics, politics, law, and culture.

This is Eric Fromm's conclusion in his book The Sane Society.

I look back to that dentist's waiting room of forty years ago in amazement and disappointment.  Amazement at the speed at which technology has developed and expanded. Computerization, world travel, the internet, and mobile phones have combined to shrink the world to the size of your fist, “replacing” God as our object of devotion. The world of manual work is gradually disappearing. Now a push-button world of automation or robotics churns out products faster than the eye can see with no relationship between the worker and his product – as Marx foresaw.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is on the march!

Despite our additional wealth, over half the world is starving while food production is curtailed to inflate profit margins. The subsequent rising inflation renders increasing incomes of little benefit throughout the industrial world.

Although we have increased our leisure time and relative affluence, we do not experience the sense of fulfillment we had when our time was restricted and leisure was a premium. The social ills of Anomie and Alienation are still chronic as “The Malady of Infinite Aspiration” identified by Durkheim runs rampant through society. Almost every young person wants to be famous (without any effort of course). Fifteen minutes of fame is no longer sufficient.

Much has changed – yet so little has improved in real societal terms. Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx and Eric Fromm's analysis confirm my own view. Any real sense of “belonging” in this society seems a distant possibility unless Fromm's final option is introduced – and soon!

Notes

• Anomie signifies a breakdown of the normative frameworks of our lives, the upsetting of rules, expectations, a sense of one's place in society, one's status vis-a-vis others. A social condition with grave psychological effects experienced during times of rapid social change, upwards as well as downwards.
• “Species Being” follows the initiation of a process of “Coming-to-be” in which nature transcends itself and becomes man through interaction with his industrial context. This must occur in a dynamic and transformational fashion thus consummating his species being and is dependent on removal of the existing alienating labor conditions.

Bibliography

• Durkheim, E. The Division of Labour in Society. Free Press. 1933.
• Fromm, E. The Sane Society. Routledge & Kegan Paul. 1963.
• Marcuse, H. One Dimensional Man. Routledge & Kegan Paul. 1964.
• Mezros, I. Marx's Theory of Alienation. Merlin Press. 1970.