Crime has a substantial influence on everyday life. Theories of criminal behavior are as old as the types of behavior itself. Among these theories is the idea of ​​anomie. The sociological notion of anomie is used as a theoretical tool to understand the intersection between social structure, culture, and criminal or deviant behavior. Although the concept of anomie theory has varied among scholars, central to different versions of anomie theory is the premise that humans are normative beings; that people think and act on the basis of common beliefs and traditions. Anomie theory was popularized by the classic works of Emile Durkheim and further explored by Robert K Merton. According to Durkheim, anomie refers to an environmental state in which society fails to exercise adequate regulation or constraint on the goals and desires of its individual members. In contrast, Robert K Merton argued that anomie is a tension between the goals set by society and the legitimate means of achieving them. Evidently, anomie perspectives do not constitute a unified body of work. Although Durkheim is considered the founder of the classical theory of anomie, this changed profoundly in Merton's hands. To understand the differences in these explanations of anomie it is important to understand the different approaches taken by Durkheim and Merton. Their theories of society were constructed from different contexts. It is through these different constructions that their use of the term anomie has changed. Durkheim argues that the specific characteristics of industrial society, particularly in the sphere of economic activity, produce a chronic state of normative deregulation. As a result, valued goals become ill-conceived, and society fails to provide people with norms…half of paper…to say that seeking explanations for criminal behavior is not important, only that. they should be aware that different theoretical approaches can help explain some types of criminal behavior but not others. Durkheim and Merton's use of the term anomie differed in one fundamental way; While Durkheim saw anomie as the lack of rules to restrain society, Merton saw anomie as the excessive regulation that inhibits the achievement of culturally accepted goals. These differences stemmed from their different contexts and views on criminal use. However, through the medium of anomie theory, both sociologists attempted to explain crime using the social structure of a society. Overall, anomie theory succeeds in describing many middle-class crimes, but it fails to explain why senseless crimes occur and why some people commit crimes while others