This formulation was widely disseminated in the "dashing 90s" of the last century. Initially, "lawlessness" is an exclusively criminal slang word; it was used only in the thieves' subculture. Then the term stepped towards the people, and it began to be used in the USSR in a variety of contexts. And it all started in 1988, when a well-known essay was published in the notorious magazine "Spark", which tells of a riot in one of the colonies. Since then, a lot of time has passed, but this “deep” word pretty firmly cut into the speech reserve of the average inhabitants of the post-Soviet space.
By concepts
But first of all, what is lawlessness in criminal jargon? This is arbitrariness, "lack of understanding", that is, a violation of thieves' rules. There was lawlessness and “thieves” (open violation of the prison charter by thieves against other prisoners) and “cops” (cruelty and sadism shown to prisoners by the administration of the colonies or other officials, for example, a prosecutor or inspectors).
Etymology
So, at the beginning of “chaos” is the jargon of the thieves world. It traditionally used roots from various languages: Russian, Ukrainian, Yiddish, German. Or, a ready-made concept was taken and a new meaning was invented, a different semantic load. The word "lawlessness" is a neoplasm from the root "limit". In Russian speech there is a similar adjective, meaning something vast.
Derivatives
- Unlimited - lawless, in the broad sense of prison and thieves norms and rules. So called those actions that did not fit into the generally accepted framework. And if you do not follow the hair dryer, but analyze it in a wider circle of modern usage, then this is something out of the ordinary.
- Lawless people - prisoners, as well as employees of ITU, creating lawlessness and arbitrariness. In a wider current understanding - those who are rudely not obeying the generally established rules of society or public order.
Mayhem is a feature film
This film was released during the years of perestroika, back in the 89th of the last century. The film tells the story of the conflict between prisoners and is based on real events (the same essay from the magazine was taken as the basis). Despite the fact that in the film adaptation the not very successful attempt of anti-propaganda of thieves' life (by the way, worked for ordinary people ignorant of the prison issue) was clearly traced, the film was popular with a wide range of Soviet moviegoers.