1 From Evolution to Function: Changing Paradigms

2 From diachrony (historical) to synchrony (in the present) Evolutionary theory too speculative: explanation of existing phenomena in terms of ‘survivals’ of an earlier era did not explain WHY they existed today. Societies too varied to be put into a unilinear framework; there were too many exceptions. It was more important to study societies from the point of view of the present. All existing social institutions could be explained in terms of their social function, I.e. the role that they played in promoting social cohesion at a particular point in time. Paralleled the change in colonial administration from direct to indirect rule.

3 Emile Durkheim

4 The Division of Labour in Society Greater specialization as a result of industrialisation did not lead to a breakdown in society, but rather to a different type of social cohesion: Organic Solidarity: social cohesion that arises as a result of the dependence of unlike segments or units on each other. Characterized by an increase in individualism. Mechanical Solidarity: social cohesion that emerges from common beliefs, based on the likenesses and similarities between members of a group. Common among pre-agricultural societies.

5 Collective Representations & the Collective Conscience All societies were characterised by a moral order; I.e. a set of collective representations These collective representations could be studied scientifically: i. Shown by their constraints on individuals. ii. Their externality to the individual. iii. They were not just psychological, but belonged to a separate realm, the sociological.

6 The Collective Conscience The collective conscience is the totality of beliefs and sentiments common to the average members of a society that forms a determinate system with a life of its own.

7 The Example of Religion All collective representations could be divided into two realms: i. The sacred ii. The profane Studied totemism and its role in providing organic solidarity to ‘tribal’ societies because he thought that this phenomenon had all the characteristics of religious phenomena in technically ‘advanced’ societies. Totemic beliefs are ‘society writ large’: i. Symbol of the totemic principle. ii. Symbol of the clan. iii. Totemic taboos reflected in rules of exogamy: who you could marry was also the clan whose totem you could hunt and eat.

8 Religion is a Source of Social Cohesion But all institutions and beliefs could be analysed in terms of the role that the play in maintaining social cohesion or social solidarity. Marcel Mauss and ‘The Gift’: Systems of non-monetary exchange function to maintain links between kinship groups. They are total social facts: gift-giving contains social, political, moral, and religious elements that are not separated out. The obligation of the gift is to give, to receive and to repay, otherwise social prestige is lost.

9 What Durkheim and l’Anee Socioloque established: The study of collective representations from the perspective of the present, I.e. a synchronic perspective. The importance of the social function of an institution A separate domain of ‘facts’ that required distinctive academic departments: I.e. sociology and anthropology.