Sociology Notes THE DIVISION OF Labor & More

THE DIVISION OF Labor BY (Theory of social solidarity): EMILE DURKHEIM

In his 1893 work The Division of Labor in Society, Durkheim examined how social order was maintained in different types of societies. 

He focused on the division of labor, and examined how it differed in traditional societies and modern societies. 

Authors before him such as Herbert Spencer and Ferdinand Tennis had argued that societies evolved much like living organisms, moving from a simple state to a more complex one resembling the workings of complex machines. 

Durkheim reversed this formula, adding his theory to the growing pool of theories of social progress, social evolutionism and social Darwinism.

He argued that traditional societies were 'mechanical' and were held together by the fact that everyone was more or less the same, and hence had things in common. 

In traditional societies, argues Durkheim, the collective consciousness entirely subsumes individual consciousness-social norms are strong and social behavior is well-regulated.

In modern societies, he argued, the highly complex division of labor resulted in 'organic' solidarity. 

Different specializations in employment and social roles created dependencies that tied people to one another, since people no longer could count on filling all of their needs by themselves. 

In 'mechanical' societies, for example, subsistence farmers live in communities which are self-sufficient and knit together by a common heritage and common job. 

In modern 'organic' societies, workers earn money, and must rely on other people who specialize in certain products (groceries, clothing, etc.) to meet their needs. Here customs and fashions are popular. The pace of social change is fast. Here groups are found on give and take basis.

The result of increasing division of labor, according to Durkheim, is that individual consciousness emerges distinct from collective consciousness-often finding itself in conflict with collective consciousness. 

Durkheim also made an association of the kind of solidarity in a given society and the preponderance of a law system.

He found that in societies with mechanical solidarity the standard of living is similar, people follow similar customs and rituals ,similar attitudes , beliefs and thoughts on the basis of similarity. Solidarity among the people is found very high. law is generally repressive: the agent of a crime or deviant behavior would suffer a punishment, that in fact would compensate collective conscience neglected by the crime-the punishment acts more to preserve the unity of consciences.

On the other hand, in societies with organic solidarity the law is generally restitutive: it aims not to punish, but instead to restitute normal activity of a complex society.

The rapid change in society due to increasing division of labor thus produces a state of confusion with regard to norms and increasing impersonality in social life, leading eventually to relative normlessness, i.e. the breakdown of social norms regulating behavior; Durkheim labels this state anomie. 

From a state of anomie come all forms of deviant behavior, most notably suicide.

EMILE DURKHEIM Study of Suicide

Durkheim was the first to argue that the causes of suicide were to be found in social factors and not individual personalities.Observing that the rate of suicide varied with time and place, Durkheim looked for causes linked to these factors other than emotional stress. 
He looked at the degree to which people feel integrated into the structure of society and their social surroundings as social factors producing suicide and argued that suicide rates are affected by the different social contexts in which they emerge.

Durkheim also distinguished between three types of suicide:

•Anomic Suicide: Anomic suicide happens when the disintegrating forces in the society make individuals feel lost or alone.When the norms and the manners in the people are suddenly broken.There are sudden changes which are unexpected. Anomic suicide reflects an individual's moral confusion and lack of social direction for him social laws become weak which fail to control his behaviour and he fails to control his actions. When the response for the norms vanished the laws of government are not respected by the people and state of lawlessness is prevailed.Social laws are shattered.life of people ends in despair.Failure of economic development failure of business or slow downs, marriages are postponed , division of labour to produce Durkheim's organic solidarity.The people are worried for future to say what will happen tomorrow? Durkheim explains that this is a state of moral disorder where man does not know the limits on his desires, and is constantly in a state of disappointment. 


 Altruistic suicide happens when there is excessive regulation of individuals by social forces. An example is someone who commits suicide for the sake of a religious or political cause. It occurs in societies with high integration, where individual needs are seen as less important than the society's needs as a whole. They thus occur on the opposite integration scale as egoistic suicide. As individual interest would not be considered important. Durkheim stated that in an altruistic society there would be little reason for people to commit suicide. He stated one exception, namely when the individual is expected to kill themselves on behalf of society – a primary example being the soldier in military service. People who commit altruistic suicide subordinate themselves to collective expectations, even when death is the result.

•Egoistic Suicide: Egoistic suicide happens when people feel totally detached from society. Ordinarily, people are integrated into society by work roles, ties to family and community, and other social bonds. When these bonds are weakened through retirement or loss of family and friends, the likelihood of egoistic suicide increases. Egoistic suicide reflects a prolonged sense of not belonging, of not being integrated in a community, It is the result of a weakening of the bonds that normally integrate individuals into the collectivity: in other words a breakdown or decrease of social integration. Durkheim refers to this type of suicide as the result of "excessive individuation", meaning that the individual becomes increasingly detached from other members of his community. Those individuals who were not sufficiently bound to social groups and were left with little social support or guidance, and therefore tended to commit suicide on an increased basis. An example Durkheim discovered was that of unmarried people, particularly males, who, with less to bind and connect them to stable social norms and goals, committed suicide at higher rates than married people.