Emile Durkheim's Theories On Social Solidarity

Emile Durkheim’s theories on social solidarity have been leading the debate on the effects of a shift between two types of solidarity for decades. Solidarity can be seen as the bonding force that hold our societies together. One type of solidarity is mechanical solidarity. Mechanical solidarity is a society that functions as a collective, like a machine, with the same goals, dreams and fears that are driven by the ideals of a god or religious figure. In the modern world we have transitioned into organic solidarity. Organic solidarity is the individualization of people. People within the society specialize in a skill and this holds the society together because we need others skills to survive. Emile Durkheim looked at how this shift in solidarity …show more content…
Before societies began to diversify and become more modern people were governed by a collective conscience. This is mechanical solidarity. It is described in such a way because it represents different organs all working towards the same goals with no variation within those goals. With societies bound by this social glue the individuals all have the same goals, dreams and fears. These goals, dreams and fear are dictated on the beliefs that surround a god figure. A society that is solidified mechanically relies on the equality of all the members within the system. There is no room for an individual's ego and disappears with the presence of the collective conscience. There is a large difference between a legal system within a primitive, traditional mechanical society and within our own modern societies. These two types of law are repressive and restitutory law. We find repressive law within mechanical societies. Repressive law is when a society looks at crimes against the collective as sacrilege and are punished severely for those crimes. However crimes against the individual are not viewed as important. This method of punishment keeps the collective conscious intact as …show more content…
Industrialization is a primary cause of organic society as it began individualization through specializing workers within the society. This is known as the division of labour. Side effects of the division of labour are an increase in ego and increased productivity within the workforce. Prior to industrialization there were often famines and in places such as Europe around 80% of the work force was in agriculture. As technology improved and became a part of production the workers could facilitate adequate amounts food. As people became more individualized however beliefs and values would shift so the law needed to reflect the ideals and values of the society. Within David Garland’s chapter on punishment and social solidarity he recognises that punishment is not necessarily in place to correct behaviour but to keep society as a whole. While there is a correlation between punishment and criminal activity to keep society intact there has to be in a place a set of values within the legal system that force a kind of communality. People who enter the prison system are made examples of representing what a society values. It can be a person being imprisoned for life due to murder or for thievery within each society there are consequences for deviating from values. In both of these examples we see that it is action against another individual which . This highlights the