“What holds society together?” Durkheim “What holds society together?”

Saw the modern society through the lens of tribal society Inducting the laws of all societies by the study of traditional and non-Western societies: simpler, reveal the “elementary forms” of social life; showed plainly the non-rational aspects Linear evolution: substitute tribal societies as examples of earlier forms of our own society.

Ethnology: Empirical description of tribal societies Sociology: Theoretical analysis of any society, tribal or modern Suicide: Social structures of high intensity prevent the individual from killing himself. He was interested in theoretical generalization, not in the empirical indicators per se. He chose suicide because it is the opposite extreme of social solidarity: bonds are so weak that the individual finds life meaningless. Not interested in suicide per se, but in showing how social integration works.

Sociology is like medical science: developing laws to distinguish between the normal and pathological states of social organism. This is antithetical to conflict theory: Instead of trying to understand the contending interests, he condemns some of them as pathological.

What holds society together What holds society together? Not a philosophical question, but to be decided empirically by the method of systematic comparison. Examining different kinds and degrees of social order and look for their causes.

Sociology: physics or physiology of society. The basic determining factors: structural relations among individuals, not the individuals themselves. Laws of sociology show how variations in patterns of social interaction determine variations in people’s behavior.

Progressive concentration of societies: growth of population, migration to cities, developments in technologies of transportation and communication Diminishing spaces between groups, bringing more people into interaction: variations in social density

Low social density: groups exist as isolated segments with unspecialized roles. E.g: small tribes, farming communities, each are self-sufficient, no division of labor among members High social density: urban, complex division of labor, society becomes more interdependent

How is Durkheim different from Marx? Even if capitalism is overthrown, socialism would continue to have a complex division of labor, driven by the same structural factors of social density. Physical aspects of structure determine the social, moral and mental aspects of structure.

Low density: people’s ideas are more concrete and particular High density: more abstract and general Low density: isolated groups focus on the concrete details: e.g: in religion: Gods and spirits are visualized as particular people, animals, etc. History: described in the form of myths High density: complex, urban society: religion: Supreme Being (more abstract) Lower classes: still concrete (localized in their small enclaves) Professionals and managers: more abstract (exposed to high density)

Eventhough he does not refer to classes, it is applicable to understanding class differences. Stratification of the means of mental production: Marx and Engels’ question: Why the peasants of rural France and Germany think politics only in terms of religious beliefs or the modern mythology of nationalism and its war heroes?

Suicide: the moral cocoon provides the individual with meaning of life. How is the moral cocoon formed? Social rituals. Rituals are most apparent in religion, but it exists everywhere, including the interactions of everyday life: common gestures, chants. People become conscious of the group around them; certain ideas represent the group by becoming its symbols, enforcing respect. Tabooed objects of a primitive tribe, altar of a religion, flag of a nation.

Moral density (in addition to physical density): It is not just the number of people in contact that makes a difference, but the extent to which they have a common life. Suicide is prevented by living in a “family, a ritualized group that goes through periodic formalities to focus the attention of the individual on the group itself.

Ideas are social because they remind individuals of where their membership and loyalties are: collective representations People do not always have to be in the presence of others for society to have its influence. Ideas carry over the effect of society. (Dominant ideology?) Ideas are produced and charged with social significance at times and places of social ritual, then individuals carry them around with themselves, exchange them with others, use them to guide themselves.

Visualize individuals moving around the physical environment and picking up moral “charges” whenever they get into group situations. We don’t questiom them because we take them for granted: We think ourselves as rational, masters of our destinies; in fact our rationality is given to us by the social structure we inhabit, a structure which forms us to think in one particular way than another.

This level of the unconscious is not mysterious: it is the social structure. We are determined by this social structure, but we do not notice it because we are too busy with the details of everyday life. This social structure holds us together.

Sociology as a two-level inquiry: how the surface of our beliefs and actions are determined by a structural basis below. Structure has its own laws. Combination of rational individuals leads to a war of all against all. Nonindividualistic, moral feelings are produced by different forms of the social structure.

Marx: Society has two levels: the infrastructure of social conflict and domination; the suprastructure of ideologies which is produced by and masks the material conditions. The attempt is to tear off the veil, to reveal the realities beneath. Durhkeim argues this is not possible: moral beliefs are necessary for the society, to expose their basis does no good and they will always return.

Reality of religion is not transcendental. God is the symbol of the society and its moral power over individuals. Society does not rest on a conscious and rational foundation, and religions could not have played such an important role if they were just based on a mistake.

Does not give primacy from science to religion. Instead, he developed a scientific theory of religion as a powerful moral force underlying the rest of the society. Religion is produced by rituals- by configurations of social interaction in the real world.

Theory of ritual can be extended to cover all varieties of how moralities and ideas are socially produced. E.g: punishment is a ritual that reminds people of the law

Focused on tribes of central Australia. No comparative analysis Focused on tribes of central Australia. No comparative analysis. Instead, he believed by isolating the most primitive form of religion, he would have the elements out of which others would later grow. Accepting evolutionary view of history?

Ideas exist prior to any individual Ideas exist prior to any individual. But ideas are not universal and unchanging; they take their form from the structure of society and change as society changes.

Society does not manifest itself in a negative form only: obligations that become visible when violated. Positive force: religious ceremonies.