Durkheim's society
Though not real without people, in Durkheim's mind (and theory), society
is
a separate entity and real
"in it own right"
(Roberts, A. 1997, p.
107). It is not
something you can reach out and touch, like another person, but similar to
gravity in that if you go against its norms, or fight against it, it can
hurt
you. So you are to an extent bound by society's norms.
Durkheim's theory of society starts from the perspective of the whole
(society). In
The Division of Labour in Society (1893) he says there
are two ways in which society is bound together:
Mechanical Solidarity and
Organic Solidarity.
Mechanical Solidarity is where the
individuals primarily
have
similar jobs, morals and ways of life and are held together through this
similarity by the collective conscience. As he shows in
Suicide (1897), the collective conscience also acts a
regulator of
individual desires and passions, thereby governing society
(Durkheim, E. 1897,
p. 246).
In the second type, Organic Solidarity, individuals are more complex,
more
diverse in their work, morals and ways of life; therefore more
individualistic, as `the division of labour', which is where one job
becomes
many, where the many are linked to one another, through set relations; has
taken place. Society in this form is held together by differences arising
from the division of labour; and the strongest sentiments from the
collective conscience identified as crime
(Durkheim, E. 1984,
p. 226
) [???]
p39).