Adams and Sydie begin their discussion of early sociology with a presentation of the sociological work of conservative writers (Section II). After the French Revolution and the Enlightenment, some writers were concerned about issues of social order and progress, in the face of revolution, disorder, and rule by the people. Early sociology is often considered to have emerged out of this conservative reaction to the Enlightenment and the French Revolution – writers such as Saint-Simon, Comte, and Spencer looked on the emergent capitalist society as generally good and progressive, but were concerned about how society holds together given the individualism that emerged and the changes in political order.

According to Adams and Sydie, there were three main approaches (p. 59)

1. Positivism – society is orderly and rational and social scientists could develop an understanding of the social world. August Comte (1798-1857) is often regarded as the early champion of this approach. A French writer, he coined the term sociology and considered it to be social physics – an application of the scientific method of physics to the social world (p. 39). Writers adopting a positivist approach consider it possible to investigate the social world and discover social laws from the regularities and patterns of human behaviour. We will not discuss Comte and the positivist approach further at this point, but positivism has been one long-standing influence in sociological theory and practive.

2. Evolutionism – society changes slowly as is self-corrective in the process. Most nineteenth century sociologists developed some type of evolutionary approach to society. That is, societies change, there are stages to social development (tribal, primitive or traditional, modern, post-modern), change is relatively gradual (although the radical approach of Section III developed a more cataclysmic view of change), and where there are conflicts or disintegration of society, these tend to be corrected through evolutionary forces. These writers generally viewed later stages as higher or more developed forms of society. Spencer, Sumner, Comte, and Durkheim all developed variants of this approach.

3. Functionalism – society is similar to a biological organism or a body, with interrelated parts, needs and functions for each of these parts, and structures to ensure that the parts work together to produce a well-functioning and healthy body. This approach was also adopted by many sociologists of all political perspectives – we often speak of the function of the family in socializing individuals and in helping preserve social order, or the function of profits to help encourage economic growth and a well-functioning economy and society. While functionalism has been an important theoretical approach, it is often too easy to rely on functionalist approaches as a substitute for understanding and explaining how the social world works. For example, in this approach we may not be able to understand why the family is functional for society, and how changes occur – if it is functional, why is it always changing. Durkheim is often considered a functionalist, but Adams and Sydie note that "Durkheim clearly distinguished between causal and functional explanations of social facts." (p. 97).

Rather than discuss each of the early conservative sociological approaches, we will move directly to Durkheim, one of the major influences in twentieth century sociology. First a quick overview of Durkheim’s sociology, a bit on his life, and then a more detailed discussion of two major parts of his theoretical approach – the division of labour and the analysis of suicide. We will also have a short discussion of Durkheim’s methods.

B. Emile Durkheim (1858-1916)

Durkheim had an evolutionary approach, considered society to be like an organism, and distinguished structure and function. While he recognized that society was composed of individuals, for Durkheim, society was not just the sum of individual behaviours, actions, and thoughts. That is, society had an existence of its own, apart from the individuals in it. Further, societies influence individuals through norms, social facts, sentiments, and social currents. These emerge from human action, but stand apart from the individual and affect the individual.

Durkheim was especially concerned with the question of social order, how does modern society hold together given the individualism and autonomy of each person. Adams and Sydie note that he focused on problems of "reconciling freedom and morality, or individualism and social cohesion in modern society" (p. 90). His book The Division of Labour in Society was an exploration and explanation of these issues, and he finds the answer in the concept of social solidarity, common consciousness, and systems of law. Because such forces are not always effective at producing solidarity and because of social changes, there can be disruptions in the solidarity and consciousness. Durkheim connects these to what he calls the forced division of labour (eg. slavery) and to periods of confusion, what he calls anomie. In Suicide, the latter is also connected to his analysis of suicide, an exploration of different suicide rates at different places and times in Europe, and an attempt to explain why they differ.

As Hadden notes (p. 85), one of Durkheim’s major contributions was to help define and establish the field of sociology as an academic discipline. Durkheim distinguished sociology from philosophy, psychology, economics, and other social science disciplines by arguing that sociologists should study particular features of collective or group life. This is the study of social facts, things which are external to, and coercive of, individuals. These social facts are features of the group, and cannot be studied apart from the collective, nor can they be derived from the study of individuals. Some examples are religion, urban structures, legal systems, and moral values such as family values. Durkheim argued that these are "features of collective existence … which are not reducible to features of the atoms, individuals, which make it up" (Hadden, p. 87).

Durkheim considers the beliefs, practices, and consciousness of the collective to be coercive on individuals as actors. In this sense, Durkheim has a structuralist approach, considering the social structures to exert a strong influence on social action. Of course, it is individuals who act, but they do not act on a purely individual basis. Rather, they have obligations and duties, and generally act in ways that are strongly influenced by the structures of which they are part. Sociology can be distinguished from psychology in this way – noting that psychologists study individuals and their mental processes, whereas sociologists are concerned with the structures that influence action.

This leads to the title of the chapter – society as sui generis – that is, society as a thing in itself, something of its own kind, or a thing apart. This is the view of Durkheim that society has an existence of its own, apart from the individuals in it, and is thus a proper object of study. This is the study of sociology. Adams and Sydie note the more specific reference of Durkheim to this is social facts or the "facts of social existence, sui generis" (p. 91) – the facts that cannot be reduced to individual acts, for example, social obligations, social currents such as broad social moods of pessimism or optimism.

Emile Durkheim (1858-1916) was born in Epinal in Lorraine, France. He was a contemporary of Weber (1864-1920), but probably never met Weber, and lived his adult life after Karl Marx died. Durkheim came from a Jewish background, and was a superior student at school and University. Eventually he was able to attend the elite Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. He taught for a number of years, and then received an appointment to a position in philosophy at the University of Bordeaux in 1887. He taught education students classes in moral education and began to teach the first course in social science at a French university. In 1902 he was appointed to a professorship at the Sorbonne, where he remained until he died. Durkheim's most famous works are The Division of Labor in Society (1893), The Rules of Sociological Method (1895), Suicide (1897) and The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912).

Durkheim is often considered a conservative within the field of sociology, being concerned primarily with order, consensus and solidarity. This approach helped provide a basis for structural functional models of society. Durkheim argued that Marxism is composed of "disputable and out-of-date hypotheses." (Ritzer, p. 73). However, Durkheim was involved politically in the Dreyfus affair, and condemned French racism and anti-Semitism. Durkheim might more properly be considered a political liberal, in that he advocated individual freedom, and opposed impediments to the free operation of the division of labour. In contemporary terms, he might be considered a social democrat, in that he favoured social reforms, while opposing the development of a socialist society.

In his theoretical model, he advocated the development of "professional groupings" or "occupational groups" as the means by which the interests of special groups could be promoted and furthered. For Durkheim, these would promote more than just their own interests, the general interests of the society as a whole, creating solidarity in a society that had developed a complex division of labour. In advocating this, he comes close to some versions of pluralism. Durkheim was not generally involved in politics, and can be considered a more academic sociologist than either Weber or Marx.

In terms of the development of the field of sociology, Durkheim is especially important. He was the first to offer courses in sociology in French universities, at a time when sociology was not well known or favoured. His writings are important within the field of sociology, in that several of them are basic works that sociology students today are expected to read and understand. Much of the manner in which sociology as an academic discipline is carried on follows Durkheim's suggestions and approach. French sociology, in particular, follows Durkheim, and some of Durkheim's books are likely to serve as texts in French sociology. Much American sociology is also heavily influenced by Durkheim. In recent years, there has again been much attention paid to his writings.

In The Division of Labor in Society Durkheim attempts to determine what is the basis of social solidarity in society and how this has changed over time. This was Durkheim's first major work, so it does not address all the issues that be considered important. However, it does present some of Durkheim's basic views and also illustrates some of the methods he used throughout his life. While this book may seem incomplete or inadequate today, it is a major part of Durkheim's sociological approach.

Durkheim's basic argument is that there are two types of social solidarity, mechanical solidarity and organic solidarity. The former characterizes earlier societies, where the division of labour is relatively limited. The latter characterizes societies with a highly developed division of labour, and it is this division of labour itself which creates organic solidarity. In both types of societies, individuals for the most part "interact in accordance with their obligations to others and to society as a whole. In doing so, each person also receives some recognition of his or her own rights and contributions within the collectivity. Social morality in this sense is ‘strictly necessary’ for solidarity between people to occur; without morality, "societies cannot exist.’" (Grabb, p. 79).

According to Giddens (p. 73), the main substantive problem for Durkheim stems from "an apparent moral ambiguity concerning the relationship between the individual and society in the contemporary world." On the one hand, with specialization and the highly developed division of labour, individuals develop their own consciousness, and are encouraged in this specialization. On the other hand, there are also moral ideas encouraging people to be well rounded, of service to society as a whole. These two seem contradictory, and Durkheim is concerned with finding the historical and sociological roots of each of these, along with how these two seemingly contradictory moral guidelines are reconciled in modern society.

This book can also be read with a view to illuminating Durkheim's methods. In the first chapter, he outlines his method, and the theory which could be falsified. By looking at morality, he is not pursuing a philosophical course, mainly in the realm of ideas. Durkheim is critical of "moral philosophers [who] begin either from some a priori postulate about the essential characteristics of human nature, or from propositions taken from psychology, and thence proceed by deduction to work out a scheme of ethics." (Giddens, p. 72). That is, Durkheim is attempting to determine the roots of morality by studying society, and changes in society. These forms of morality are social facts, and data from society must be obtained, and these used to discover causes. The data used by Durkheim are observable, empirical forms of data in the form of laws, institutions (legal and other), norms and behaviour. In this book, Durkheim adopts a non-quantitative approach, but in Suicide his approach is more quantitative.

In examining the roots of social solidarity, Durkheim regards the examination of systems of law as an important means of understanding morality. He regards "systems of law" as the "externalization of the inner core of social reality (solidarity), it is predicted that as the inner core undergoes qualitative changes from ‘mechanical’ to ‘organic’ solidarity, there should be manifest shift in the ratio of types of legal systems ... as a proportion of the total legal corpus." (Tiryakian in Bottomore and Nisbet, p. 214)

Giddens notes that Durkheim is "attempting to measure changes in the nature of social solidarity. Since social solidarity is ... not directly measurable, it follows that in order to chart the changing form of moral solidarity ‘we must substitute for the internal fact which escapes us an external index ... which symbolizes it.’ Such an index can be found in legal codes. From this, Durkheim begins to build a proof of the division of labour as the basis for the different forms of solidarity. He then attempts to show the nature of society, how it changes over time, and how this results in the shift from mechanical solidarity to organic solidarity.

1. Mechanical Solidarity

Early societies tended to be small scale and relatively simple, with little division of labour or only a simple division of labour by age and sex. In this type of society, people are very similar to each other, and Durkheim titles this chapter "Mechanical solidarity through likeness." In this type of society, each person carries out essentially similar types of tasks, so that people share the type of work they carry out. These societies are characterized by likeness, in which the members of the society share the same values, based on common tasks and common life situations and experiences.

In these early societies, Durkheim argues that legal codes or the system of law tends to be repressive law or penal law. If there is a crime in this society, then this crime stands as an offense to all, because it is an offense to the common morality, the shared system of values that exists. Most people feel the offense, and regardless of how serious it is, severe punishment is likely to be meted out for it. Zeitlin notes (p. 264):

Penal law is concerned with sanctions only, and there is no mention of obligations. Punishment is severe, perhaps death or dismemberment. Moral obligation and duty is not stated in the punishment, because this is generally understood. Rather the punishment is given, and that is the completion of the penalty.

Some of the following quotes from The Division of Labor in Society show the nature of Durkheim's argument: In the quotes, note that the act is criminal because the act offends the collective conscience. For Durkheim, the collective consciousness reaches all parts of society, has a distinct reality and is independent of individual conditions, and is passed on from one generation to the next. In this, it differs from particular or individual consciences. (Division, pp. 79-80).

Referring to repressive or penal forms of punishment in early society, Durkheim notes that it may extend to:

In contrast, modern legal codes are quite different, with punishment being less important. Instead, society is concerned with restoration of the original situation, rather than exacting revenge on the offender. "But today, it is said, punishment has changed it character; it is no longer to avenge itself that society punishes, it is to defend itself." (Division, p. 86).

This distinction between different types of legal codes and punishment may provide a means of noting what mechanical solidarity means.

These quotes show how the collective consciousness works in societies without a highly developed division of labour. The primary function of punishment, therefore, is to protect and reaffirm the conscience collective in the face of acts which question its sanctity. In order to carry this out, such societies develop forms of repressive or penal law.

While the common values in these societies can change over time, this process of change is generally quite slow, so that these values are generally appropriate for the historical period in question. At other times, the laws may be inappropriate, and might be maintained only through force. However, Durkheim generally considers this to be an exceptional circumstance, and one that is overcome.

2. Organic Solidarity

With the development of the division of labour, the collective consciousness begins to decline. Each individual begins to have a separate set of tasks which he or she is engaged in. These different situations lead to quite a different set of experiences for each individual. This set of experiences tends to lead toward "a ‘personal consciousness,’ with an emphasis on individual distinctiveness." (Grabb, p.81). The common situation which created the common collective consciousness is disturbed, and individuals no longer have common experiences, but have a great variety of different settings, each leading towards its own consciousness.

As the developmen of the division of labour erodes the collective consciousness, it also creates a new form of solidarity. This new form is organic solidarity, and is characterized by dependence of individuals on each other within the division of labour, and by a certain form of cooperation. There is a

Cuff et al. (p.31) note that this means that "differences are expected and indeed become expected. ... Thus the nature of the moral consensus changes. Commonly shared values still persist because without them there would be no society, but they become generalized, as they are not rooted in the totality of commonly shared daily experiences. Instead of specifying the details of an action, common values tend to be a more general underpinning for social practices. It is in this sense that the division of labour can be seen as a moral phenomenon."

Thus Durkheim argues that there are individual, and probably group, differences, at the same time as there is a new form of social solidarity.

Durkheim speaks of the centripetal and centrifugal forces, and draws an organic analogy:

In the structure of societies with organic solidarity (quote 8):

b. Organic Solidarity and Restitutive Law. "The progressive displacement of repressive by restitutive law is an historical trend which is correlated with the degree of development of a society: the higher the level of social development, the greater the relative proportion of restitutive law within the judicial structure." (Giddens, p. 76). For Durkheim, this form of law is concerned with "a simple return in state. Sufferance proportionate to the misdeed is not inflicted on the one who has violated the law or who disregards it; he is simply sentenced to comply with it." The judge "speaks of law; he says nothing of punishment." (Division, p 111).

As the division of labour develops, people do not have the same consciousness, so that the form of law must change. "The very existence of restitutive law, in fact, presupposes the prevalence of a differentiated division of labour, since it covers the rights of individuals either over private property, or over other individuals who are in a different social position from themselves." (Giddens, p. 76) Along with this could come Weber's rational law, perhaps much the same as Durkheim's restitutive law. Systematic codes governing exchange and contracts are necessary, but these are the result of the general acceptance of individual rights within the system of a division of labour.

c. Cause of Organic Solidarity. Durkheim is critical of the economists who regard the development of the division of labour as a result of the coming together of people with different abilities and specialties. While Durkheim did not make reference to Adam Smith, he also may have had in mind Smith's view that people have a natural propensity to truck, barter and trade. Finally, he was critical of the economists' point of view that merely examined the technical conditions for the division of labour, and the increased efficiency associated with it, without consideration of the broader societal conditions necessary to maintain it. Thus Durkheim did not consider the division of labour as a natural condition.

Durkheim considers the development of the division of labour to be associated with the increasing contact among people. There is a greater density of contact, so that people are led to specialize. The division of labour emerges in different ways in different societies, leading to somewhat different forms of solidarity. However, it is these developments which create the division of labour and "Civilization develops because it cannot fail to develop." (Division, p. 337).

But this moral relationship can only produce its effect if the real distance between individuals has itself diminished in some way. Durkheim refers to this an increasing density. Moral density cannot grow unless material density grows at the same time. The two are inseparable though. Three ways in which this happens are:

i. Concentration of people. People begin to concentrate together. Agriculture may begin this, and it continues with the growth of cities as well.

ii. Cities. Formation of cities and their development. "Cities always result from the need of individuals to put themselves in very intimate contact with others. They are so many points where the social mass is contracted more strongly than elsewhere. They can multiply and extend only if the moral density is raised." (Division, p. 258).

iii. Transportation and Communication. Increased number and rapidity of means of transportation and communication. This results in "suppressing or diminishing the gaps separating social segments, they increase the density of society." (Division, pp. 259-260).

As a result of this greater contact, the "struggle for existence becomes more acute" and this results in the development of the division of labour. If needs are the same, then there is always a struggle for existence. But where different interests can be pursued, then there may be room for all. Quote 8:

For Durkheim the result of the division of labour is positive in that there is no need to compete in the sense of struggling just to survive. Rather, the division of labour may signify that there are sufficient material resources for all in society, and this division allows a certain form of co-operation. Quote 9:

The division of labour cannot be anticipated, in terms of the form of its development. It is the sharing of functions, but not according to a preconceived plan. "The division of labour, then, must come about of itself and progressively." (Division, p. 276). It must come to pass in a pre-existing society (Appendix quote 9).

Durkheim thus sets out an analysis of the division of labour which emphasizes the special functions of each of type of occupation and endeavour. The biological model, with a well functioning body, where each organ properly serves it function seems to be uppermost in Durkheim's mind. Unlike some of the structural functionalists, Durkheim's method distinguishes the cause of the function from the actual function filled. That is, Durkheim observes the function that the occupation fills in society, but attempts to investigate the development of the cause in an historical manner, examining how this function emerged. In this, one can consider there to be a certain "conflict as a mechanism, within a quasi-Darwinian framework, which accelerates the progression of the division of labour." (Giddens, p. 79).

Durkheim is also providing a criticism of the economic models which argue that people with different specialties come together to trade the products of their specialties. For Durkheim, specialties are not natural in any sense, but are developed. Similarly, the division of labour is not natural either, but develops in different forms in different societies. While there may be a great similarity among these (perhaps like Weber's rationality), national differences emerge. In that sense, Durkheim has an historical model, fairly solidly grounded on the material realities.

On the other hand, Durkheim's analysis may be considered to be mainly descriptive, proposing some fairly straightforward observations concerning culture. His notion of solidarity, mores, morals and norms come very close to the conventional sociological model of these, and may be considered to be widely accepted by all. The question is how these emerge, and whose interests they serve. Here the conflict approach differs dramatically from Durkheim.

Finally, Durkheim's analysis can be considered to be evolutionary and fairly optimistic. For the most part, Durkheim looks on the developments in the division of labour as signalling higher stages of civilization. He does not consider there to be any grand plan to this, and no single factor which guides it. Rather, there is competition, which results in the development of the division of labour, and the outcome of this process cannot be predicted. However, the result is generally positive, because people need each other, and this produces an organic solidarity in society.

At the end of The Division of Labor in Society, however, Durkheim does note that there can be problems in society. There are two abnormal forms of the division of labour, and the division of labour itself does not always function as well as it could in modern society.

a. Anomic Division of Labor. When there are industrial and commercial crises, there may be a partial break in organic solidarity. Also, where there is conflict between capital and labour, this may be an unusual situation. Part of this is caused by the increased separation of employee and employer under capitalism (Division, p. 354), so that the conditions for a lack of solidarity are expanded as capitalism and the division of labour develop.

Irregular forms such as crime are not treated as part of the breakdown, rather these are treated by Durkheim as differentiation (Division, p. 353), not part of division of labour. Durkheim compares these with cancer, rather than with normal organs.

The real problem is a lack of regulation or a weakened common morality that can occur in modern society. For example, in the economic sphere, there are no rules which fix the number of economic enterprises (Division, p. 366), and there is no regulation of production in each branch of industry. This might be an overall form of irrationality, in Weber's sense. There can be ruptures in equilibrium, capital labour relations may become indeterminate. In the scientific field there may be greater separation of different sciences. (Division, p. 367).

If the division of labour does not produce solidarity in all these cases, it is because the relations of the organs are not regulated, because they are in a state of anomy. For the individual this means there are not sufficient moral constraints and individuals do not have a clear concept of what is proper and acceptable. (Ritzer, p. 85). See Appendix quote 10:

Durkheim also discusses conditions of the worker under capitalism in terms that come very close to Marx's description of alienation and exploitation. He discusses the degrading nature of the division of labour on the worker, the possibility of monotonous routine, and the machine like actions of the worker. (Division, p. 371). However, Durkheim does not consider these to be the normal form, but one which results when the worker does not have a sufficient vision of the whole process of production.

b. Forced Division of Labor. The forced division of labour is where the division of labour is not allowed to develop spontaneously, and where some act to protect themselves and their positions. These could be traditional forms, which are external to the division of labour, or they could be castes, Weber's status groups, or Marx's classes. Any factors that prevent individuals from achieving positions which would be consistent with their natural abilities indicates a force division of labour. Ritzer notes (p. 98) that this could be inequalities in the structure of work or inadequate organization, with the wrong people in particular positions or incoherent organizational structures. Any interference with the operation of the division of labour that results in the position being filled by those who are not most apt for the position would be forced division of labour. Quote 11:

Of course, wealth interferes with this, but Durkheim views this as abnormal and not the normal tendency.

Having said that Durkheim was generally very optimistic concerning the development of the division of labour in developing an organic solidarity, Durkheim was also concerned with the state of modern society. The development of the division of labour did have the tendency to split people, and the organic solidarity might not be sufficient to hold society together.

One solution for regulation that Durkheim discusses is the state. In some senses, Durkheim was a socialist, although not of the same type as Marx. Ritzer notes that for Durkheim, socialism "simply represented a system in which moral principles discovered by scientific sociology could be applied." (Ritzer, p. 73). While the principles of morality had to be present in society, the state could embody these in structures, fulfilling functions such as justice, education, health, social services, etc., and managing a wide range of sectors of society (Grabb, p. 87).

The state "should also be the key structure for ensuring that these rules are moral and just. The appropriate values of individualism, responsibility, fair play, and mutual obligation can be affirmed through the policies instituted by the state in all these fields." (Grabb, p. 87).

The second major hope that Durkheim held was for what he called occupational groups. The state could not be expected to play the integrative role that might be needed, because it was too remote. As a solution, Durkheim thought that occupational or professional groups could provide the means of integration required. These would be formed by people in an industry, representing all the people in this sector. Their role would be somewhat different from Weber's parties, in that they would not be concerned with exercising power, and achieving their own ends. Instead, they would "foster the general interest of society at a level that most citizens can understand and accept." (Grabb, p. 88).

What we especially see in the occupational group is a moral power capable of containing individual egos, of maintaining a spirited sentiment of common solidarity in the consciousness of all the workers, of preventing the law of the strongest from being brutally applied to industrial and commercial relations. (p. 10). Ritzer notes that these associations could "recognize ... common interests as well as common need for an integrative moral system. That moral system ... would serve to counteract the tendency toward atomization in modern society as well as help stop the decline in significance of collective morality." (pp. 98-99).

Adams, Bert N. and R. A. Sydie, Sociological Theory. HM585 A33 2001