E. DURKHEIM'S DIVISION OF LABOR."

Born at Espinal in the eastern French province of Lorraine, on April 15, 1858, Emile Durkheim is regarded as one of the founders of modern sociology. His father was a rabbi and as the majority of his ancestors where rabbis too, he decided quite early to follow the family tradition and become a rabbi himself while following the regular course of instruction at school. At the age of thirteen, under the influence of a Catholic woman teacher was led to Catholicism. Soon after that he decided to turn away from all his religious involvement and became agnostic. He was educated in France and Germany. His studies included law, philosophy and social science and he was awarded a variety of honors and prizes.

After finishing high school, he prepared himself for the laborious admission examinations in order to be admitted in Ecole Normale Superieure, which had a great reputation and a very powerful status. After great effort, Durkheim was admitted in 1879 on his third try. At the Ecole Normale Superieure he met with numerous men like Henri Bergson, who became the philosopher o

The second abnormal form is the forced division of labor.

Civilization is itself the necessary consequence of the changes which are produced in the density of societies. If science, art, and economic activity develop it is in accordance with a necessity, which is demanded upon people. It is because there is no other way for them to live in the new conditions in which they have been placed. From the time that the number of individuals among whom social relations are established begins to increase, they can maintain themselves only by greater specialization and harder work. From this point civilization appears as the effect of a cause, as the necessary result of a given state. People improve because they must do it and what determines the speed of this improvement is the strength of the pressure, which they exercise upon one another. We must notice that civilization does not increase our happiness, but only repairs some of the losses that it has itself caused. It is because this superactivity of general life weakens our nervous system that needs more varied and complex satisfactions. In that, we see how false it is to make civilization the function of the division of labor, it is only a consequence of it. It can explain neither the existence nor the progress of the division of labor, but, on the contrary, has a reason for existing only in so far as the division of labor is itself found necessary. And as this necessity increases so are the problems, too.

As we can conclude from the above, Durkheim's critique on the state of anomie and solidarity is definitely relevant to current social debates. With increased division of labor, there is increased individualism and potentially a decrease in the relations with the state, which can cause social depression. Durkheim argued that "if interest relates men, it is never for more than a few moments and that if we look further into the matter, we shall see that this total harmony of interests conceals a latent or deferred conflict. For where interest is the only ruling force each individual finds himself in a state of war with every other since nothing comes to modify the egosKthere is nothing less constant than interest. Today it unites me to you, tomorrow it will make me your enemy." (Durkheim,1947:203-204)

Durkheim also discussed anomie's effect on the goals of individuals, as well as their corresponding happiness. As social bonds are weakened, humans no longer have limits upon their desires and aspirations. While social order and morality previously limited their goals, they now become limitless. But Durkheim warns that "one does not advance when one proceeds toward no goal, or when the goal is infinity. To pursue a goal which is by definition unattainable is to condemn oneself to a state of perpetual unhappiness." (from "Suicide") This

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Approximate Word count = 1924
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)