''The Division of Labour in Society'' () is the doctoral dissertation of the French sociologist Émile Durkheim, published in 1893. It was influential in advancing

sociological Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociology was coined in ...

theories and thought, with ideas which in turn were influenced by

Auguste Comte Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier Comte (; ; 19 January 1798 – 5 September 1857) was a French philosopher, mathematician and writer who formulated the doctrine of positivism. He is often regarded as the first philosopher of science in the ...

. Durkheim described how

social order The term social order can be used in two senses: In the first sense, it refers to a particular system of social structures and institutions. Examples are the ancient, the feudal, and the capitalist social order. In the second sense, social orde ...

was maintained in societies based on two very different forms of

solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

– mechanical and organic – and the transition from more "primitive" societies to advanced industrial societies. Durkheim suggested that in a "primitive" society, ''mechanical solidarity'', with people acting and thinking alike and with a shared collective conscience, is what allows social order to be maintained. In such a society, Durkheim viewed

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

as an act that "offends strong and defined states of the collective conscience" though he viewed crime as a normal social fact. Because social ties are relatively homogeneous and weak throughout a mechanical society, the law has to be repressive and

penal Penal is a town in south Trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago. It lies south of San Fernando, Princes Town, and Debe, and north of Moruga, Morne Diablo and Siparia. Penal is noted as a heartland of Hindu and Indo-Trinidadian culture. History Up ...

to respond to offences of the common conscience. In an advanced, industrial,

capitalist Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

society, the complex system of

division of labour The division of labour is the separation of the tasks in any economic system or organisation so that participants may specialise ( specialisation). Individuals, organisations, and nations are endowed with or acquire specialised capabilities, a ...

means that people are allocated in society according to merit and rewarded accordingly: social inequality reflects natural inequality, at least in the case that there is complete equity in the society. Durkheim argued that

moral A moral (from Latin ''morālis'') is a message that is conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader, or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim. ...

regulation was needed, as well as economic regulation, to maintain order (or ''organic solidarity'') in society. In fact this regulation forms naturally in response to the division of labor, allowing people to "compose their differences peaceably".Rock, Paul (2002). "Sociological Theories of Crime" in Maguire, Mike, Rod Morgan, and Robert Reiner, ''The Oxford Handbook of Criminology''. Oxford University Press. In this type of society, law would be more restitutive than penal, seeking to restore rather than punish excessively. He thought that transition of a society from " primitive" to advanced may bring about major disorder, crisis, and anomie. However, once society has reached the "advanced" stage, it becomes much stronger and is done developing. Unlike

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

, Durkheim did not foresee any different society arising out of the industrial capitalist division of labour. He regarded conflict, chaos, and disorder as pathological phenomena to modern society, whereas Marx highlights class conflict.

References

External links

''The Division of Labour in Society'', English Translation by George Simpson
hosted at the Internet Archive
''De la division du travail social'' : étude sur l'organisation des sociétés supérieures (1893)
– French version in the Internet Archive

{{DEFAULTSORT:Division of Labour in Society Sociology books Academic works about criminology 1893 non-fiction books Works by Émile Durkheim