Émile Durkheim and his thoughts on Society

According to Durkheim, the purpose of sociology is to determine the conditions that will protect society. Society, according to Durkheim, is essentially a moral reality that must be preserved and developed naturally.

What sociology has dealt with in the past and today is the problem of social order, Social Solidarity, with Durkheim’s discourse. Durkheim’s reason for dealing with such a problem may be the political upheavals and urban upheavals that took place during his lifetime.

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Durkheim’s work was generally in the direction of analyzing how the social order was established and maintained, especially how it was reconstituted after a period of intense and rapid change, how rural communities evolved into mass industrial-urban societies.

Durkhem’s first major work, Division of Labor in Society, was devoted to the theme of social solidarity:

Durkheim divided the simple social structures of traditional societies into two forms of social order in order to compare and analyze the complex division of labor in modern societies. These;

-Mechanical Solidarity

-Organic Solidarity

In traditional societies, relationships are particularly face-to-face or mechanical. The division of labor is very simple. The majority of people usually do the same job. People are usually either hunters or farmers.

In Mechanical Solidarity societies, there is a common lifestyle, common customs that are known and practiced by everyone.

There is a basic common consensus, which Durkheim calls the ‘consdence collective’: this term is often translated as ‘common consciousness’ or collective consciousness, and it connotes a common morality or set of values ​​on which social solidarity is built and which regulates and controls the behavior of individuals. the collective consciousness is in a completely dominant position. Little place is given to individuality. Social differences are very small. The concept of private property is almost nonexistent.

In mechanical societies, individual deviations in individuals are strongly opposed.

As societies develop and modernize, industrial economies and divisions of labor develop, and people begin to migrate from rural to urban areas, and mechanical solidarity becomes narrower to society. Different professions and lifestyles emerge and similarities begin to differentiate, homogeneity becomes heterogeneous.

Collectivity gives way to individuality. It takes private ownership instead of common ownership. Individual rights begin to replace social responsibility, class and status differences begin to replace commonality. Power and authority pass from family and church to law and state.

For Durkheim, the essence of organic solidarity is the complex division of labor. According to Durkheim, the basis of modern economic societies is mutual economic interdependence, mutual interest, reciprocity and cooperation in order to survive and achieve success.

According to Durkheim: In mechanical societies, individual and collective consciousness actually mean the same thing, while in organic societies the two are different and often in conflict. Determining two basic types of social order and accordingly two basic moralities, Durkheim tried to scientifically observe and measure the transition from mechanical solidarity to organic solidarity, and while doing this, he used law as a tool.

While moral facts cannot be observed easily, legal rules can be measured because they are a formal expression of moral values. Every law contains enforcement, and Durkheim identifies two contrasting forms of enforcement:

Punitive and painful punitive sanctions, such as losing one’s freedom or life: According to Durkheim, legal rules based on punitive sanctions reflect the basic strong type of collective consciousness that dominates traditional societies.

As in civil law and common law, they are sanctions that involve compliance rather than punishment and aim to restore matters to the way they were before they were violated. This law is a reflection of organic solidarity and their contractual needs of more modern societies.

CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT

The concept of social solidarity constitutes the main theme of functionalist writings after Durkheim. Durkheim’s attempt to scientifically analyze and observe the causes, effects and sources of social change has inspired many studies on anomie, suicide, and religion.

Durkheim’s Suicide study is the concrete example of social solidarity and anomie analysis. According to him, suicide rates are inversely proportional to social solidarity. As the level of social solidarity decreases, suicide rates increase.

A healthy society is one in which solidarity is high, and a sick society is one in which anomie causes turmoil and the functioning of the social order is disrupted. For him, the role of state officials is similar to that of the doctor. To prevent the emergence of the disease by providing a good hygiene environment or to try to treat the disease when it occurs.

Durkheim focuses not on the structure and the functioning of the social order, but on the basic moral order of society, the system of rules that determines individual behavior.

Durkheim’s concept of social solidarity and its use in sociological theory and research have been criticized. The criticisms made are:

Durkheim believes that all societies will follow the same evolutionary path. This belief is socially and historically invalid.

Although the concept of social solidarity provides a basic framework for analyzing social order, it is not deep enough to explain social change and conflict.

Durkheim has also been criticized for exaggerating the contradictions between punitive and retributive law, while seeking a basis for measuring mechanical solidarity in opposition to organic solidarity. His critics cited as an example that most modern states have resorted to highly punitive rules of law to strengthen their authority and suppress individual rights.