Can anyone tell me if Emile Durkheim's concept of anomie regarding work is relevant today?

Question

Can anyone tell me if Emile Durkheim's concept of anomie regarding work is relevant today?

Answer 1

"Where traditional societies--primarily through religion--successfully taught people to control their desires and goals, modern industrial societies separate people and weaken social bonds as a result of increased complexity and the division of labor. This is especially evident in modern society, where we are further separated and divided by computer technology, the internet, increasing bureocracy, and specialization in the workplace. Perhaps more than ever before, members of Western society are exposed to the risk of anomie".

Answer 2

You could argue it was still relevant, and the durkheim quote above isnt a bad one to use.

Part of the reason anomie can occur is because people have less that holds them together. While its possible durkheim originally overestimated the lack of a bond between the worker and the employer...in a more modern conception of employment, where work is more intermittent and there is less of a tie from companies to location - and as a result to their works...an important bond is lost.

Workers tend to get value (amidst other ways) from a sense that they are a part of something that matters, that the people around them matter, and that they are valued as part of their company.

2 out of those 3 are more at risk given the way work is structured in much of the world today.