A teoria da anomia, sua atualidade e aplicabilidade: um estudo criminológico

Abstract

The central objective of this work is to discuss the theory of anomie, with emphasis on the formulation of the concept undertaken by Robert Merton. Its emergence, its variations, its refutations, its relationships with other approaches, its applicability, its merits and deficiencies will be put into perspective here, always with a view to Merton's theoretical legacy and his etiology of criminal behavior. The aim is to demonstrate, through the Brazilian example, where anomie now presents almost caricatured features, that its relevance, far from having been lost over the course of these three quarters of a century, has only increased. Given contemporary social and cultural conditions, the factors that underlie it have never been so present. Finally, critical criminology, despite the undeniable weight of the contributions it has made, has not meant its overcoming, but rather its complement. Above all because the theory of anomie, unlike radical criminology, seeks solutions that, although considered reformist, are also more tangible, that is, applicable to the system in which it is inserted.