Summary Of Division Of Labor In Society By Emile Durkheim

In the Division of Labor in Society, Emile Durkheim determines how societies form social cohesion. Durkheim finds that social cohesion works differently in “traditional”, otherwise primitive, and modern societies. To better explain this, Durkheim turns to a concrete source of morals or rules that is found in all societies: law. Durkheim notes that one the differences of traditional and modern societies is that they differ in their types of law, repressive or penal law and restoratory or civil law. Durkheim argues that these sources are inherently different from each other and are characteristic of the types of societies that they belong to. These differences in law leads to different characterizations in social cohesion and Durkheim identifies

On a basic level, a punishment for a crime is supposed to elicit feelings of guilt for the criminal for they have done something society has deemed wrong. For Durkheim, these passionate feelings go beyond just the criminal, but extend to all members of society no matter what relation they have, if any, with the criminal. People, for the most part, will feel anger towards the criminal in mechanical solidarity because the criminal has violated the shared beliefs of the people. From this passion, the punishment becomes vindication for societies that practice mechanical solidarity. Durkheim states that punishment is “an act of vengeance, since it is an expiation. What we are avenging, what the criminal is expiating, is the outrage to our morality” (The Division of Labor in Society,

This collective consciousness is a shared set of beliefs or feelings that a society holds together. The collective consciousness is not something that an individual comes up with, but rather is something that exists on its own. Durkheim states that “this is why in large gatherings of people emotion can assume such violence. It is because the strength with which it is produced in each individual consciousness echoes in every other consciousness. To acquire such intensity for us, a collective sentiment need not even be felt already by us” (The Division of Labor in Society, 77). The collective consciousness is the reason why social cohesion exists in mechanical solidarity. The collective consciousness causes people to feel the same, strong emotions with each other when we see a criminal be punished for a crime. It elicits a fiery, passionate belonging to one another. This, to Durkheim, is why mechanical solidarity is a defining characteristic of traditional. Mechanical solidarity takes a large basis in emotion, which can lead to an irrational response. For these reasons does Durkheim believe modern societies are properly characterized by organic solidarity being the basis of social