Durkheim Flashcards
What is a Mechanical Society
Pre-modern societies (smaller groups)
Similarity is the root of all social order (the group is similar which makes them do the same things and share the same beliefs)
Solidarity is based upon the Collective Consciousness, so people share the same beliefs and values
What is an organic society?
Modern society
As the population increases the Collective Consciousness loses its hold on people
Because there are more and more individuality people are sharing fewer morals, values, and occupations
As society evolves people become more “individual”
Despite our increased individuality, we become more dependent on the group. (we need others to accomplish things that we are not able to do.)
Our individuality is actually a social product, it is the effect of these external causes that leads us to become more individual
The division of labour leads people to become more individual and at the same time more integrated into group life
Definition of “conscience”
1.) To be conscious, aware (French and English)
2.) “Conscience”: a clear conscience (a sense of morality, guilt, virtue) (French)
Definition of Collective Consciousness
** Every Social Order is a Moral Order **
Our awareness of the world (consciousness) is morally structured (conscience)
For a society to “function” a shared system of morals and values must be in place to tell people what is right or wrong
Solidarity for Durkheim
Durkheim argues that society is like a body, but instead of skin and bones to keep it together it is the ?
Two kinds of laws/society
1.) Repressive law: predominant in mechanical society. It wants to punish and make the offender suffer
2.) Restitutive law: predominant in organic society. It wants to restore the harm of the offender and make things go back to the way it was before the crime was committed.
eg: instead of putting someone in jail for not doing a contract that was given to them, it is better to make sure they are finishing the contract so the job can be over.
Definition of Sui Generis
A thing of its own kind
How can we scientifically study solidarity?
Social solidarity ( social facts) can not be directly observed.
The ‘visible’ symbol of solidarity is legal laws
They are a visible symbol of solidarity because it is written, it is precise, and it is stable.
Also, the way laws are punished can say a lot about a society. eg: physical harm of harm reduction strategies.
The inner state is a manifestation of external things that go through us. So, feelings that we have are expressions of the social reality
Collective consciousness vs individual consciousness
The collective consciousness is just what the majority of the population believes, it is different from the individual consciousness.
We are not robots, so everyone is different, but the collective consciousness is the average beliefs that people hold and it creates order
Crime, law, and the collective consciousness
Nothing is intrinsically criminal/offensive about an act. Therefore, in different societies, the same act may or may not be seen as criminal. Also, it can depend on the context. eg: shooting someone in the street vs in the context of war.
An act is criminal if it offends the collective consciousness
The social reaction to crime
Punishment maintains social order
So, if someone commits a crime there will be a group reaction, and people are going to ask for punishment
It brings us together as a group
eg: 9/11 brought the US together and an enormous vague of patriotism arose from this event.
Societies with a strong collective consciousness are “mechanical” since people’s reaction is automatic. People are all standing against a crime or deviant act.
The division of labor
Individuality is the social product of the DOL
In a mechanical society, people pretty much had the same job, but with the DOL we have more diverse jobs. Therefore, while a teacher is doing his job he does not have to grow his food. Everybody has a specialized task and needs other people to do tasks they can not.
The DOL is the new basis of social order/solidarity
It is a social phenomenon and not just an economic one
It emerges from increases in population volume and density (social morphology)
It allows us to peacefully co-exist since each person is not in competition for the same jobs, resources, goals, etc. which creates a social balance and harmony
Division of labor vs collective consciousness
As the DOL replaces the collective consciousness restitutive laws becomes predominant
Restitutive laws restore “function” rather than strengthening common beliefs
The laws are not about punishment anymore, but about returning the social system to a functional state
DOL normal vs pathological
A DOL that produces social instability is pathological
what is anomie
def: a state of normlessness
it is not a psychological state
what is a church
a moral community
what is collective effervescence
what is dysfunction
what are elementary forms
when does the equilibrium happens
what is functionalism
what is harmony
hamony happens when the society is in equilibruim
What is the homoduplex
The human has two basic
He has desires and wants therefore he needs regulation
He is a social animal therefore he needs integration
What are human desire
they are unlimited
society must limit and regulate our desires
we need external social control like laws and gossip
Magic for Durkheim
Durkheim says that magic is not the first kind of religion since magic does not have a church
methods of durkheim
- historical: allow to press pause and freeze the social world (social statics: what is stable and social dynamic: what changes (primitive)
- comparative: how do societies differ and what do they have in common? classify different types of societies. what are the laws, institutions, morals and groups
- experimental: soc. uses indirect experiment to study. we study social problems. compete does not want to change society like other negative philosopher did. (suicide)
what is moral education
what is moral order
what is negative philosophy
opposites of positivists and scientific like Durkheim and Compte, they were critiquing the monarchy in France and it led to the french revolution. people explain things in methalogical explaination.
rules of social methodology
- only social facts can explain another social fact
- we need to get rid of any preconceptions
- we need to distinguish the normal from the pathological
Four types of suicide
- egoistic (lack of integration in the group eg: religious groups protestant more suicides than catholic and jews because less integrated)
- anomie (too little regulation so people commit suicide because there desire are not regulated and they look like children in a candy store eg: economic boom or bursts like occupy wall street in 2008)
- altruistic (excess of integration, so not enough individualism most common in mechanical soc. eg: when a elderly member commits suicide to not be a burden for the group or when a women commits suicide because her husband died)
4.fatalistic (when married women are committing suicide because they are too regulated)
Compte social order
Modern people need to have faith in science like they had faith in religion and god.
Sociologists must ensure that people are fulfilling their social duties
Sociologists must suppress nonscientific ideas that are threatening order.
Durkheim cont’d to Compte’s “faith” in science
Durkheim does not think that we must have faith in science, but we do need something to replace religion that will integrate and regulate us
How do we create scientific knowledge?
In sociology, scientists are at the center (subject ) of the object that they are studying. therefore they bring a lot of preconceptions but it is important to avoid them
Sources of solidarity
in mechanical societies, it is through collective consciousness
in organic societies, it is in the DOL
two forms of pathological DOL
anomic: lack of rules and regulations so creates booms and busts in the economy which leads to suicide
lack of integration: if the DOL is not based on meritocracy then it creates inequalities that are not natural and that are preventing people with skill to do the job they merit like taxis drivers who have a PhD in another country
Inequality produces solidarity for Durkheim
Durkheim believes in contractual solidarity, so it still occurs with natural inequalities. but he does not agree that external inequalities are good and one way to get rid of them is by getting rid of inheritance
what is normal or pathological
- needs to see it in society
- needs to have a function
eg: crime is normal because we see it in every society and it functions is to increase solidarity because it brings the group together to see what this deviant or not.
the DOL is functional for whom?
the dol is highly functional for men but very dysfunctional for women. indeed, everything that is femine in the society is devalue (less payed, more choices and financial depnse
what DOL are we really seeing
in our society we are seeing a pathological DOL instead of the normal
health
biological: the society is like the body, when everything is working it is healthy but when it has problem then it becomes pathological and anomic
Social current
periodic, temporary social facts.
to prevent anomic social current
1.we must regulate the economy
2. morally educate people
social facts
external force that regulates and integrate and coercive that people can not be willed it away that control the inner state of peolpe
individuality
in organic society, people went from collective consciousness to individuality
disipline
people get discipline through moral education
order
- to organize or arrange
- to command, instruct, request
