From Evolution to
Function:
Changing
Paradigms
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From diachrony (historical) to
synchrony (in the present)
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Evolutionary theory too speculative: explanation of existing
phenomena in terms of ‘survivals’ of an earlier era did not
explain WHY they existed today.
Societies too varied to be put into a unilinear framework;
there were too many exceptions.
It was more important to study societies from the point of
view of the present.
All existing social institutions could be explained in terms of
their social function, I.e. the role that they played in
promoting social cohesion at a particular point in time.
Paralleled the change in colonial administration from direct
to indirect rule.
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Emile Durkheim
1858-1917
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The Division of Labour in Society
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Greater specialization as a result of industrialisation
did not lead to a breakdown in society, but rather to a
different type of social cohesion:
Organic Solidarity: social cohesion that arises as a
result of the dependence of unlike segments or units
on each other. Characterized by an increase in
individualism.
Mechanical Solidarity: social cohesion that emerges
from common beliefs, based on the likenesses and
similarities between members of a group. Common
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among pre-agricultural societies.
Collective Representations & the
Collective Conscience
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i.
ii.
iii.
All societies were characterised by a moral order;
I.e. a set of collective representations
These collective representations could be studied
scientifically:
Shown by their constraints on individuals.
Their externality to the individual.
They were not just psychological, but belonged to
a separate realm, the sociological.
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The Collective Conscience

The collective conscience is the totality
of beliefs and sentiments common to the
average members of a society that forms
a determinate system with a life of its
own .
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The Example of Religion
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i.
ii.
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i.
ii.
iii.
All collective representations could be divided into two
realms:
The sacred
The profane
Studied totemism and its role in providing organic
solidarity to ‘tribal’ societies because he thought that this
phenomenon had all the characteristics of religious
phenomena in technically ‘advanced’ societies.
Totemic beliefs are ‘society writ large’:
Symbol of the totemic principle.
Symbol of the clan.
Totemic taboos reflected in rules of exogamy: who you
could marry was also the clan whose totem you could
hunt and eat.
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Religion is a Source of
Social Cohesion
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But all institutions and beliefs could be analysed in terms
of the role that the play in maintaining social cohesion or
social solidarity.
Marcel Mauss and ‘The Gift’: Systems of non-monetary
exchange function to maintain links between kinship
groups.
They are total social facts: gift-giving contains social,
political, moral, and religious elements that are not
separated out.
The obligation of the gift is to give, to receive and to repay,
otherwise social prestige is lost.
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What Durkheim and
l’Anee Socioloque
established:
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The study of collective representations from the
perspective of the present, I.e. a synchronic
perspective.
The importance of the social function of an
institution
A separate domain of ‘facts’ that required distinctive
academic departments: I.e. sociology and
anthropology.
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