Emile Durkheim

Emile Durkheim

Sociology is the scientific and systematic study of human societies and the people who form the different types of societies. It sets out to describe, understand and explain the social world that we live in It studies the relationship between the individual and society. This essay will discuss Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) and analyse the relevance of his theories within societies today. Emile Durkheim was a French sociologist who was viewed as one of the founding fathers of sociology. Some of the areas which Emile Durkheim’s discussed were the anomie, division of labour, suicide, religion and mechanical and organic solidarity (Macdonald, 2009).
Emile Durkheim believed that mechanical solidarity was based on moral consensus which traditional societies are characterised. Mechanical solidarity gives way organic solidarity based on the productive specialization in industrial societies. In pre-industrial societies, Durkheim explained that strong tradition functions as the social support which binds individuals together. If a person tries to change their ways of life the community would try to move as fast as possible to punish this person. He called this mechanical solidarity. (J. Marcion and Plummer, 2008). This means:
‘social bonds based on shared morality that unite members of pre-industrial societies’ (Giddens, 2001).
Durkheim explained that these social bonds were ‘mechanical’ as individuals would feel a more or less automatic sense of being connected together (McDonald, 2009). He believed that the reduction in mechanical solidarity to be a defining trait in modern society. However this doesn’t indicate that society dissolves: instead modernity creates a new kind of solidarity. This new social integration new is what he called organic solidarity (J. Marcion and Plummer, 2008. This means:
‘social bonds, based on specialization, that unite members of industrial societies’ (J. Marcion and Plummer, 2008)
As solidarity was once ingrained in likeness, it presently passes from differences among individuals whose extensive pursuits make each of them depend on one another. (J. Marcion and Plummer, 2008)
Emile Durkheim was the first to use the concept of anomie to explain the undermining traditional customs and standard in societies of anomie to explain the undermining traditional customs and standard in societies today (Giddens and W. Sutton, 2013). As there was a major increase in industrialization in the 1900’s, this led to social inequalities causing some groups of individuals to have less opportunities or unacceptable lifestyles which led to them feeling isolated or normlessness. This happens if the changeover of mechanical solidarity towards organic solidarity was unsuccessful and individuals do not have a role, values and know what satisfactory behaviour is which may cause people to feel isolated which could lead to suicide. The more anomic a society develops into, the higher the suicide rate becomes. (Macdonald, 2009)
Division of Labour is another area which Emile Durkheim studied. The Division of Labour is how occupational duties are distributed and shared between the labouring people. Durkheim disputed that in pre-industrial societies, each employee did variety of different occupational duties which were needed in order to meet their survival requirements and employment was arranged sequentially so all phases in the manufacturing procedure was finished. This permitted an employee to view the entire procedure from start to finish and to possess an extensive variety of skills with restricted specialization. In comparison to the industrial society, all employees currently specialises in one particular occupation (Tovey and Share, 2000)
Emile Durkheim most famous work was on suicide. He:
‘attempted to link the personal act of suicide with the social forces in operation which might encourage it’ (IPA 1992:9)
Durkheim showed that committing suicide was social patterned. He indicated that the environment surrounding the person influenced the probability that an individual would take their own life. (Fulcher and Scott, 2011). For example, throughout the duration of war suicide rates are more likely to be lower. He connected his explanation to the theory of social solidarity and the two kind of bonds within society which are social integration and social regulation. He disputed that individuals who were mixed into social groups, and whose wants and goals were regulated by social norms (Giddens and W. Sutton, 2013). He distinguished four different kinds of suicide:
Egoistic suicide stems from weak integration. It arises when a person is left feeling isolated or a person loses it ties to a group. An example of this is the suicide of Protestants than Catholics as it is Protestantism is a less integrative religion. Another example of this is marital status. Marriage helps prevent suicide by integrating secure social relationship while individuals who are single are more likely to be isolated in society. T
Anomic suicide occurs from lack of regulation that Durkheim referred to as anomie. Due to a fast change or instability in society individuals are left normless. The loss of a fixed point of reference for norms and desires can disturb the stability between individual’s situations and desires.
Altruistic suicide is caused when a person is over-integrated. The social bonds are too strong and the individual believes that society is more important than him-herself. They believe that suicide is a sacrifice to improve society i.e. suicidal bombers. Fatilistic suicide occurs when society causes a person to be over-regulated. This causes the person in society to feel powerless.
Suicide rates change within societies however they show consistant patterns within societies throughout time. (Fulcher and Scott, 2011)
Emile Durkheim spent his later career studying religion. The study had a large impact in the creation of the discipline of sociology. He believed that religion was an important aspect in society. In Emile Durkheim’s The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (1912) he described religion as:
‘a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things set apart and forbidden.’
Durkheim’s main prominence was on the level of social structure and what way religious beliefs and rituals results in individuals coming together, which gives people a feeling a unity and shared values (Giddens, 2001). While there are a number religions in the world they all have two characteristics: they all work as a socializing agent and they all have a
‘coherant system of beliefs and practices serving universal human needs and purposes’ (Ibid.:629)
In his work on religion he emphasized that whatever an individual believes about religious matters, all of the religions have certain common elements or characteristics. These involve – beliefs, personal experiences, ritual and ceremonies, the sacred and the profane and moral communities. The functions of religion according to Durkheim are social identity, socialisation and social control, collective conscience, meaning and purpose, stability and cohesion.
This essay will discuss Emile Durkheim who was a famous sociologist and analyse the relevance of his theories within societies today. In this essay it mentioned mechanical and organic solidarity. It also discussed anomie, division of labour, suicide and religion

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Reference List
Durkheim, E., Cosman, C. and Cladis, M. S. (2008). The elementary forms of religious life. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fulcher, J. and Scott, J. (2011). Sociology. Oxford [u.a.]: Oxford Univ. Press.
Giddens, A. (2001) Sociology, 4th ed. UK: Polity Press
Giddens, A. and W. Sutton, P. (2013). Sociology. 7th ed. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Institute of Public Administration. (1992) Sociology, Dublin: IPA.
Macionis, J.J. and Plummer, K. (2008). Sociology: A Global Introduction.4th ed. New York: Pearson Prentice Hall
Macdonald, B. (2009). An Introduction to Sociology in Ireland. 2nd ed. Dublin: Gill & McMillan.
Tovey, H. and Share, P. (2000). A sociology of Ireland. 3rd ed. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan.