SYA 3010 Sociological
Theory:
Emile Durkheim
Wednesday, March
23, 2016
© 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith
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Emile Durkheim
References
Coser, Lewis A. 1977. Masters of Sociological Thought: Ideas in Historical and Social
Context. 2d ed. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers.
Durkheim, Emile. [1893] 1964. The Division of Labor in Society. Glencoe, IL: The Free
Press.
Durkheim, Emile. [1895] 1982. The Rules of Sociological Method. New York: The Free
Press.
Durkheim, Emile. [1897] 1951. Suicide: A Study in Sociology. Glencoe, IL: The Free
Press.
Theodorson, George A. and Achilles S. Theodorson, eds. 1969. A Modern Dictionary of
Sociology. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell.
Turner, Jonathan H., Leonard Beeghley, and Charles H. Powers. 1998. The Emergence
of Sociological Theory. 4th ed. Cincinnati,OH: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
Wallace, Ruth A. and Alison Wolf. 1999. Contemporary Sociological Theory: Expanding
the Classical Tradition. 5th ed.Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
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Emile Durkheim
1857-1917
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Emile Durkheim
Born in France on April 15, 1857
Son of a rabbi
Studied Hebrew and the Old Testament
Was a Catholic for a short period of time
Became an agnostic
(Coser 1977:143)
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Emile Durkheim
Paradigm
Order
Class of Theories
Functionalism
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Emile Durkheim
Functionalism
The analysis of social and cultural phenomena in terms of
the functions they perform in a sociocultural system. In
functionalism, society is conceived of as a system of
interrelated parts in which no part can be understood in
isolation from the whole. A change in any part is seen as
leading to a certain degree of imbalance, which in turn
results in changes in other parts of the system and to
some extent to a reorganization of the system as a
whole. The development of functionalism was based on
the model of the organic system found in the biological
sciences. (Theodorson and Theodorson 1969:167)
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Emile Durkheim
Functionalism is macrosociology
Think of an airport as an example of the
interrelatedness expressed within the
functionalism framework.
Pilots
Maintenance crews
Air traffic controllers
Baggage handlers
Ticketing and reservation personnel
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Emile Durkheim
What could cause “disequilibrium” of the
airport system?
Inclement weather
Malfunctioning radar control system
High volume of passengers during the holidays
Strike of one category of employees
(Wallace and Wolf 1999:18)
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Emile Durkheim
Three Elements of Functionalism
The general interrelatedness, or
interdependence of the system’s parts
The existence of a “normal” state of affairs, or
state of equilibrium, comparable to the normal
or healthy state of an organism
The way that all the parts of the system
reorganize to bring things back to normal
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Emile Durkheim
Using the airport example, how will
equilibrium be restored?
Personnel will work harder
Overtime will be set up
Additional staff will be hired
Additional “flights” will be developed (for
inclement weather)
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Emile Durkheim
In analyzing how social systems maintain
and restore equilibrium, functionalists
tend to use shared values or generally
accepted standards of desirability as a
central concept. Value consensus means
that individuals will be morally committed
to their society.
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Emile Durkheim
The concept of norms is a basic building block in
sociological theory. Remember these terms from
Social Problems?
Positive Sanctions
Negative Sanctions
Informal Sanctions
Formal Sanctions
Folkways
Laws
Mores
(Mooney, Knox, and Schacht 1997:7-8)
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Emile Durkheim
The emphasis on values is the second most
important feature of functionalism. As such, it
contrasts directly with the other major
macrosociological perspective, conflict theory.
Whereas functionalism emphasizes the unity
of society and what its members share,
conflict theorists stress the divisions within
a society and the struggles that arise out of
people’s pursuits of their different material
interests.
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(Wallace
and by
Wolf
1999:19)
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Emile Durkheim
What should sociology study?
Durkheim set out to create a proper subject
matter for sociology, the realm of social
facts. He defined social facts as that
“which is general over the whole of a
given society whilst having an existence of
its own, independent of its individual
manifestations.” (Durkheim [1893] 1964:49)
(Wallace and Wolf 1999:21)
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Emile Durkheim
Durkheim’s examples of social facts
Laws
Morals
Beliefs
Customs
Fashions
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Emile Durkheim
Durkheim later elaborated on the
meaning of social facts and used the term
institution
The “beliefs and modes of behavior instituted
by the collectivity.” (Durkheim [1895] 1982:45)
Durkheim defined sociology as the “science
institutions, their genesis and their
functioning.” (Durkheim [1895] 1982:59)
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Emile Durkheim
Durkheim made it clear that he viewed
macrosociology (large-scale or societywide) phenomena as sociology’s proper
subject matter.
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Emile Durkheim
In The Rules of Sociological Method, where he
discusses social facts, Durkheim sees functions
as “general needs of the social organism”
(Durkheim [1895] 1982:123). He then proceeds
to make his case for explanation of social facts
by social rather than nonsocial causes. He
applied his method in his well-known study,
Suicide: A Study in Sociology (Durkheim [1897]
1951), where he focused on suicide rates, a
social fact, rather than on individual suicides.
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Emile Durkheim
Before the next few slides are presented,
remember how “individualistic” we are in
the current society of the United States.
As societies become more complex, the
individual members tend to be more selfcentered as opposed to community
centered.
Now, the next slide please. . .
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Emile Durkheim
Punishment is, Durkheim argues, a social reaction
to crime. It serves not simply the obvious
functions of retribution for the criminal and
general deterrence of crime; it also fulfills the
generally unrecognized but critical function
of maintaining the intensity of collective
sentiments, or what modern functionalists call
shared values (in this case, the objection to
criminal activity).
(Wallace and Wolf 1999:21-22)
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Emile Durkheim
Punishment, Durkheim argues, “has the
useful function of maintaining these
sentiments at the same level of intensity,
for they could not fail to weaken it if the
offenses committed against them
remained unpunished” (Durkheim [1895]
1982:124).
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Emile Durkheim
(Wallace and Wolf 1999:22)
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Emile Durkheim
Contrary to modern Western thought, the purpose
of the “punishment” was more important than
the “dignity” or “rights” of the individual being
punished. This explains why punishments are
almost always public events in simpler societies.
The focus on the individualistic, self-centered
modern complex societies--totally distorts the
“value-upholding” “normative” process of swift
public punishments.
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Emile Durkheim
Suicide: A Study In Sociology
Durkheim’s study does not simply describe the
suicide rates in Europe in the nineteenth
century. Instead he begins with the basic
assumption that too much or too little
integration or regulation (cohesion) is unhealthy
for a society, and from this he derives specific
hypotheses about suicide.
(Wallace and Wolf 1999:23)
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Emile Durkheim
Two Types of Integration
 Attachment
Attachment to social groups and their goals. Such attachment
involves the maintenance of interpersonal ties and the
perception that one is a part of a larger collectively.
 Regulation
Regulation by the collective conscience (values, beliefs, and
general norms) of social gatherings. Such regulation limits
individual aspirations and needs, keeping them in check.
(Turner, Beeghley, and Powers 1998:264)
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Emile Durkheim
Suicide and Social Integration
 Humans can potentially reveal unlimited desires and
passions, which must be regulated and held in check.
 Yet total regulation of passions and desires creates a
situation where life loses all meaning.
 Humans need interpersonal attachments and a sense
that these attachments connect them to collective
purposes.
 Yet excessive attachment can undermine personal
autonomy to the point where life loses meaning for the
individual.
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(Turner, Beeghley,
Powers
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by Ronald
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Emile Durkheim
For throughout Durkheim’s illustrious
career, his theoretical work revolved
around one fundamental question: what
is the basis for integration and
solidarity in human societies?
(Turner, Beeghley, and Powers 1998:251)
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Emile Durkheim
Durkheim’s first major work was the
published version of his French doctoral
thesis, The Division of Labor in
Society: A Study of the Organization
of Advanced Societies.
(Durkheim [1893] 1947)
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Emile Durkheim: Social Solidarity
or Social Integration
Social Solidarity
The Division of Labor is about the shifting basis of
social solidarity as societies evolve from an
undifferentiated and simple profile to a complex
and differentiated one. Today this topic would
be termed social integration, because the
concern is with how units of a social system are
coordinated.
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Emile Durkheim: Social Solidarity
or Social Integration
The question of social solidarity, or integration, turns on
several related issues:
 How are individuals made to feel part of a larger social
collective?
 How are their desires and wants constrained in ways
that allow them to participate in the collective?
 How are the activities of individuals and other social
units coordinated and adjusted to one another?
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Emile Durkheim: Social Solidarity
or Social Integration
As it is evident, these questions take us into
the basic problem of how patterns of
social organization are created,
maintained, and changed. It is little
wonder, therefore, that Durkheim’s
analysis of social solidarity contains a
more general theory of social
organization.
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Emile Durkheim:
Collective Conscience
The Collective Conscience
(later called Collective Representations)
The totality of beliefs and sentiments common to
average citizens of the same society forms a
determinate system which has its own life, one
may call it the collective or common
conscience.
(Durkheim [1893] 1947:79-80)
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Emile Durkheim:
Collective Conscience
People are born into the collective
conscience, and it regulates their
perceptions and behavior. What
Durkheim was denoting with the concept
of collective conscience, then, is that
social systems evidence systems of ideas,
such as values, beliefs, and norms, that
constrain the thoughts and actions of
individuals. © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith
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Emile Durkheim:
Collective Conscience
Durkheim was concerned with morality
and moral facts. This area is now
termed culture.
Durkheim was concerned with the systems
of symbols--particularly the norms, values,
and beliefs--that humans create and use
to organize their activities.
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Emile Durkheim:
Collective Conscience
In the course of his analysis of the
collective conscience, Durkheim
conceptualized its varying states as having
four variables
Volume
Denotes the degree to which the values, beliefs,
and rules of the collective conscience are shared
by the members of a society
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Emile Durkheim:
Collective Conscience
Intensity
Indicates the extent to which the collective
conscience has power to guide a person’s
thoughts and actions
Determinateness
Denotes the degree of clarity in the components
of the collective conscience
Content
Pertains to the ratio of religious to purely secular
symbolism in the collective conscience
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Emile Durkheim:
Social Morphology
Social Morphology
Social Morphology (social structure)
involves the assessment of the following:
Nature
Number
Arrangement
Nature of Interrelations
Whether these were individuals or corporate
(groups and organizations)
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Emile Durkheim: Mechanical
and Organic Solidarity
Mechanical and Organic Solidarity
Mechanical Solidarity
Based on a strong collective conscience
regulating the thought and actions of
individuals located within structural units that
are all alike
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Emile Durkheim: Mechanical
and Organic Solidarity
Legal codes, which in Durkheim’s view are the
best empirical indicator of solidarity, are
repressive, and sanctions are punitive.
• The reason for such repressiveness is that deviation
from the dictates of the collective conscience is viewed
as a crime against all members of the society and
the gods.
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Emile Durkheim: Mechanical
and Organic Solidarity
Organic Solidarity
These societies are typified by large populations, distributed in
specialized roles in many diverse structural units. Organic
societies reveal high degrees of interdependence among
individuals and corporate units, with exchange, legal contracts,
and norms regulating these interrelations. The collective
conscience becomes “enfeebled” and “more abstract,” providing
highly general and secular premises for the exchanges,
contracts, and norms regulating the interdependencies among
specialized social units.
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Emile Durkheim: Mechanical
and Organic Solidarity
This alteration is reflected in legal codes that
become less punitive and more “restitutive,”
specifying nonpunitive ways to redress violations
of normative arrangements and to reintegrate
violators back into the network of
interdependencies that typify organic societies. In
such societies individual freedom is great, and the
secular and highly abstract collective conscience
becomes dominated by values stressing respect
for the personal dignity of the individual.
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Emile Durkheim: Mechanical
and Organic Solidarity
Review Handout
Descriptive Summary of Mechanical
and Organic Societies
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Emile Durkheim:
Social Change
Social Change
 Durkheim’s view of social change revolves around an
analysis of the causes and consequences of increases in
the division of labor:
The division of labor varies in direct ratio with the
volume and density of societies, and, if it
progresses in a continuous manner in the course of
social development, it is because societies become
regularly denser and generally more voluminous
(Durkheim [1893] 1947:262).
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Emile Durkheim:
Social Change
How does dynamic density cause the
division of labor? Dynamic density
increases competition among individuals
who, if they are to survive the “struggle,”
must assume specialized roles and then
establish exchange relations with each
other. The division of labor is thus the
mechanism by which competition is
mitigated.
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Emile Durkheim:
Social Change
Thus, Darwin says that in a small area, open to
immigration, and where, consequently, the
conflict of individuals must be acute, there is
always to be seen a very great diversity in the
species inhabiting it.
. . . Men submit to the same law. In the same
city, different occupations can co-exist without
being obliged mutually to destroy one another,
for they pursue different objects.
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(Durkheim
[1893] 1947:-266-267)
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Emile Durkheim:
Social Change
Durkheim saw migration, population
growth, and ecological concentration as
causing increased “material density,”
which in turn caused increased moral or
dynamic density--that is, escalated social
contact and interaction. Such interaction
could be further heightened by varied
means of communication and
transportation.© 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith
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Emile Durkheim:
Social Change
Review Handout
Durkheim’s Causal Model of the
Division of Labor
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Emile Durkheim:
Anomie (Definition)
Anomie (Normlessness)
When social regulations break down, the controlling influence of
society on individual propensities is no longer effective and
individuals are left to their own devices. Such a state of affairs
Durkheim calls anomie, a term that refers to a condition of relative
normlessness in a whole society or in some of its component
groups. Anomie does not refer to a state of mind, but to a property
of the social structure. It characterizes a condition in which
individuals desires are no longer regulated by common norms and
where, as a consequence, individuals are left without moral
guidance in the pursuit of their goals.
(Coser 1977:132-133)
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Emile Durkheim:
Anomic Division of Labor
Anomic Division of Labor
Represents insufficient normative
regulation of individuals’ activities, with
the result that individuals do not feel
attached to the collectivity.
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Emile Durkheim:
Anomic Division of Labor
Anomie is inevitable when the
transformation of societies from
mechanical to an organic basis of social
solidarity is rapid and causes the
“generalization,” or “enfeeblement,” of
values. With generalization, individuals’
attachment to, and regulation by, values
is lessened.
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Emile Durkheim:
Anomic Division of Labor
The results of this anomic situation are
diverse.
One result is that individuals feel alienated,
because their only attachment is to the
monotony and crushing schedule dictated by
the machines of the industrial age
Another is the escalated frustrations and the
sense of deprivation, manifested by increased
incident of revolt, that come in a state of
underregulation.
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Emile Durkheim:
Anomic Division of Labor
Unlike Marx, however, Durkheim did not
consider these consequences inevitable. He
rejected the notion that there were inherent
contradictions in capitalism, for if, in certain
cases, organic solidarity is not all it should be . .
. [it is] because all the conditions for the
existence of organic solidarity have not been
realized”(Durkheim [1983] 1947:372-373).
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Emile Durkheim: Social Solidarity
or Social Integration
Again . . . .
The question of social solidarity, or integration, turns on
several related issues:
 How are individuals made to feel part of a larger social
collective?
 How are their desires and wants constrained in ways
that allow them to participate in the collective?
 How are the activities of individuals and other social
units coordinated and adjusted to one another?
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Emile Durkheim
Real World Applications
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