Emile Durkheim - A part of his theory of the development of societies - Division of Labour in Society (1893)

1. Emile
Durkheim
1858 – 1917, French Sociologist
One of the founders of Sociology
Institutionalised Sociology
Structural Functionalist

2. Major Sociological
paradigms
Structural
Functionalism
Conflict theories
Symbolic
interactionism 2
Structural-functional paradigm – Sees society
from a macro level as a complex system whose parts
work together to promote solidarity and stability.
and stability.
Originated with Durkheim.
Compares society with living
organism.
Things could go wrong – he
called this as malfunction,
illness, deviation of the
normal functioning of society.
Socialstructure
Socialfunctions
SocialDysfunction
Different parts of
society stable
pattern of social
behaviour.
Ex: Religion,
division of labour
Manifest functions
are intended or
obvious
consequences of a
particular structure.
Latent functions are
unintended or
unrecognised.
Any social pattern
that disrupts the
pattern of society.
Problems:
Sees society as functional and stable, deals bad with changes.
Structural functionalist view that bad things in society have positive functions.
For example, Durkheim thought the presence of crime in society gave out the norms and
morals of what is acceptable in society.

3. Social Facts
A category of facts which present
very special characteristics: they
consist of manners of acting,
thinking, and feeling external to
the individual, which are invested
with a coercive power by virtue of
which they exercise control over
him.
3
He gives us a framework for making sense of the stability of life and the layers of
integration, control and regulation that maintain it.
Social facts are forms of collective conscience (states of the collective mind).
They should be studied at the level of social reality than at the level of individual.
Since these facts consisted of actions, thoughts, and feelings, they should not be
confused with biology and psychology, because these are focused at the level of
individual.
He said that when individuals interact and form a group, it creates a new
phenomenon which is greater than sum of its parts.
And also that the parts are derived from the whole rather than the whole from the
parts, because of the coercive power of social facts manifested in individuals.
Durkheim insisted that social facts were not simply limited to ways of functioning (e.g.,
acting, thinking, feeling, etc.), but also extended to ways of being (e.g., the number,
nature, and relation of the parts of a society, the size and geographical distribution of
its population, the nature and extent of its communication networks, etc.)
He recognises social facts in the division of labour and suicides.

4. Social solidarity
Solidarity refers to the ties in a
society that binds people together.
4
Mechanical Solidarity
• In earlier times, society was simpler and
homogeneous. So social coherence was
based on shared beliefs and thoughts.
They had high degree of religious
commitment, same kind of jobs and
responsibilities.
• It revolved around kinship.
• This is mechanical solidarity, solidarity
through similarity. Like cogs in a machine.
Organic Solidarity
• After industrial revolution, society
became more complex and
heterogeneous.
• Division of labour and specialisation was
created. People in this new society are no
longer similar.
• Social coherence was created through
interdependence as we no longer can
sustain on our own.
• This is organic solidarity, solidarity
through dissimilarity. Like different
organs in a human body.

5. Suicides
Durkheim wanted to understand
the regularity of suicide rates. He
was against the arguments that
were reduced to the level of
individuals.
He also discarded theories based
on climatic change and heavenly
bodies.
5
In the middle of 19th century, there was an increase in crime and suicide rates.
Durkheim said that its due to the reduced solidarity.
Sociologists were able to predict what part of the society or occupation, how many
people, in which region of the country (demographic and sociological characteristics)
will commit suicide.
Sometimes individualism were created because of the alienation feel the industries
gave off. People felt detached from society and shared values and that lead to suicides
– a social phenomenon of modern society.
Egoistic suicides are caused by low level of social cohesion. Altruistic suicides are
caused very high level of social cohesion. Optimum level of social cohesion is needed.
Due to rapid social change, people felt alienated, disconnected from society given
changes in norms, values, and expectations, and how this can cause both psychic and
material chaos.That led to anomie - normlessness.
Suicides were not due to mental illness of the individual. Suicides are correlated with
other factors.
To lower the suicide rates, social organisations have to be strengthened.

6. Religion
Sacred and Profane
Religion was created to separate
mundane things and things that
transcends normal daily life.
6
Durkheim’s methodological principle:
The sociologist should always take the words of his or her investigation very seriously.
Religion (metaphorical way of comprehending something difficult to explain) creates
sense of community because of the power of society, collective conscience.
Stone, statue or flag is no ordinary everyday
object for some people. For those people, there
is a clear distinction between sacred and
profane, extra ordinary and ordinary.