an|o|my

an|o|mie or an|o|my «AN uh mee», noun.

a lack of direction or purpose; condition of aimlessness or rootlessness: »

The process of change tends to develop situations in which the old norms no longer restrain individual behavior and new norms are either absent or unacceptable. Such anomie…frequently occurs in the development of urban society (Hinkle and Hinkle).

╂[< French anomie < Greek anomia lawlessness < a- without + nómos law]