8/14/2019 Social Integration and Durkheim

1/1

Social Integration and DurkheimEmile Durkheim studied how societies maintained social integration after traditional

bonds were replaced by modern economic relations.

fig. 1mile Durkheim

Emile Durkheim was a French positivist sociologist working in the tradition of Comte.KEY POINTS

Durkheim believed thatsocietyexerted a powerful force on individuals. According toDurkheim, people's norms, beliefs, andvaluesmake up a collective consciousness, or ashared way of understanding and behaving in the world.

The collective consciousness binds individuals together and creates social integration. Durkheim saw increasingpopulation densityas a key factor in the advent of modernity.

As the number of people in a given area increase, so does the number of interactions,and the society becomesmorecomplex.

As people engage in more economic activity with neighbors or distant traders, theybegin to loosen thetraditionalbonds of family, religion, and moralsolidaritythat hadpreviously ensured social integration. Durkheim worried that modernity might heraldthe disintegration of society.

Simpler societies are based onmechanical solidarity,in which self-sufficient people areconnected to others by close personal ties and traditions. Modern societies are basedonorganic solidarity,in which people are connected by their reliance on others inthedivision of labor.

Although modern society may undermine the traditional bonds of mechanicalsolidarity, it replaces them with the bonds of organic solidarity.

Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)legitimized sociology in France and becamea dominant force in the development of the discipline worldwide. Although

he was politically liberal, he took a more conservative position intellectually,

arguing that the social disorders produced by striking social changes could

be reduced through social reform. Durkheim argued that sociology was the

study of structures that are external to, and coercive over, the individual; for

example, legal codes and shared moral beliefs, which he called social facts.

In Suicidehe made his case for the importance of sociology by

demonstrating that social facts could cause individual behavior. He argued

that societies were held together by a strongly held collective morality calledthe collective conscience. Because of the complexity of modern societies, the

collective conscience had become weaker, resulting in a variety of social

pathologies. In his later work, Dukheim turned to the religion of primitive

societies to demonstrate the importance of the collective consciousness.

https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/society--2/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/society--2/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/society--2/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/values/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/values/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/values/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/population-density/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/population-density/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/population-density/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/more/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/more/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/more/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/traditional/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/traditional/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/traditional/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/solidarity/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/solidarity/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/solidarity/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/mechanical-solidarity/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/mechanical-solidarity/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/mechanical-solidarity/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/organic-solidarity/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/organic-solidarity/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/organic-solidarity/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/division-of-labor/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/division-of-labor/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/division-of-labor/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/division-of-labor/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/organic-solidarity/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/mechanical-solidarity/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/solidarity/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/traditional/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/more/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/population-density/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/values/https://www.boundless.com/sociology/definition/society--2/