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The concept of social cohesion is at the heart of Emile Durkheim's sociological theory. Durkheim is concerned with social cohesion or social solidarity because he is a functionalist sociologist. Durkheim claimed that shared institutionalized values are the source of social cohesion. As a result, Emile Durkheim's sociological theory's key ideas—anomie, or the absence of behavioral norms, alienation, and social conflict—are viewed as social pathologies.
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I'd like to quickly go over Durkheim's sociological theory's main ideas. The notions of collective conscience, religion, and mechanical solidarity will be my starting points. According to Durkheim, religion and the collective conscience are essential for social cohesion. This is due to a number of factors, including the creation of a common state of existence of collective conscience, which is defined as shared beliefs and sentiments among members of society. And religion is the primary manifestation of collective conscience, enforcing uniformity in attitudes and behaviors, in Durkheim's view. It is crucial to remember that Durkheim contends that only small-scale societies, such as tribal societies, exhibit collective conscience, which is expressed in religious beliefs and strengthened by ceremony and ultimately unites people. Durkheim refers to this solidarity as
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As we may already be aware, Durkheim believed that mechanical solidarity implied that people who live in a society are similar to one another. In other words, in a society held together by mechanical solidarity, members engage in the same fundamental social and economic activities, such as hunting and gathering, and hold the same basic worldviews and life views, which are largely based on religion. What Durkheim refers to as "collective conscience" is made up of these fundamental principles and values. The collective conscience, which Durkheim defined as all beliefs and values, is an established system with a self-aware existence. This system encourages people to work together or follow social norms because collective conscience is more commonly understood as societal norms.
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As we can see, advanced societies have since moved away from this kind of solidarity, which has weakened the influence of the general conscience. The paradox of modern societies, according to Durkheim, is that as they become more individualized, they also become more integrated. Therefore, Durkheim did not believe that modernization was to blame for the breakdown of traditional society. In fact, as was already mentioned above, modernization has brought about a new kind of solidarity. According to Durkheim, the idea of "division of labor" makes this possible.
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On Organic Solidarity and the Division of Labor
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As was already mentioned, Durkheim referred to the segmental structure of mechanical solidarity as the way society is organized into tribes. The division of labor is along domestic lines in this society, which is made up of small groups or segments arranged into tribes living close to one another. In a society held together by mechanical solidarity, as we can see, there is little division of labor. As societies modernize, the segments have evolved into organs with more intricate roles. Modern advanced societies also feature increased industrialization and the division of labor.
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Therefore, contrary to what Durkheim would have us believe, organic solidarity rather than mechanical solidarity is what holds these extremely complex and organized societies together. The collective conscience may have persisted, but it has lost importance as kinship has given way to occupation as the source of the kind of solidarity that holds these societies together, and social interactions are now governed by contracts. In light of this, Durkheim makes the case that organic solidarity is based on a more specific type of social interaction, in which people are more bonded to one another than to society as a whole.
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As we can see, the idea of system integration as opposed to social integration resulted from the transition from mechanical solidarity to organic solidarity. Due to their shared beliefs and values, individuals or groups that are undergoing social integration come together or are assimilated into the larger society. The division of labor has become highly organized through the markets, the state, and other institutions as a result of system integration, which has made society more developed and complex. Through the roles they played in society, individuals are integrated into the system.
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In fact, this is where the idea of the division of labor is introduced. In fact, according to Durkheim, the division of labor in advanced societies increases people's dependence on one another, particularly with regard to the economic tasks that various people perform. The paradox of contemporary society, which is held together by innate solidarity, is indeed this.
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As Ian Craib correctly notes, the paradox of organic solidarity based on the division of labor is that members of society simultaneously become more individuated and dependent on society. Individualization is a result of the fact that in contemporary societies, people play a variety of social roles, act in various ways according to those roles, and utilize various, specialized bodies of knowledge. The community's collective beliefs and knowledge are no longer sufficient to allow each person to complete their assigned task. We become more and more dependent—vitally dependent—on everyone else completing their tasks. In a hunter-gatherer society, I could spend a lot of time by myself foraging for food, building my own shelter, and so forth. In
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Durkheim argues that law is necessary because social bonds in contemporary societies resemble contracts more than they once did. Because law reproduces the primary form of social solidarity, according to Durkheim, it is crucial for social cohesion. For Durkheim, there are two types of law: penal and restitutive. In less developed societies, repressive sanctions are the mainstay of penal law, according to Durkheim. Religion is the source of criminal law, which serves to uphold common sentiments in order to preserve social cohesion. So, according to Durkheim, punishment's true purpose is to preserve social cohesion while preserving all of its vitality in the collective conscience. On the other hand, restitutive law is founded on restitutive sanctions, which are more common in modern or advanced societies. the history of reparative law,
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