Durkheim Norms

Emile Durkheim believed that society was and is fundamentally a moral system. At the center of his social theory Durkheim placed law. He believed law played two important roles “it is the best and most objective single indicator of collective morality… law operates in society to constrain individual behavior and produce social order” (Sutton 32). To put it in simpler terms he believed that law could

Emile Durkheim, was a French sociologist. His theories and writings helped establish the foundations of modern sociology. Durkheim disagreed with most social theorists of the late 1800 's because they thought that individual psychology was the basis of sociology. Durkheim regarded sociology as the study of the society that surrounds and influences the individual. Durkheim explained his theories in his book The Rules of Sociological Method (1895). He says there is relationship between moral values and religious beliefs, which establishes unity in society.Emile Durkheim has long been viewed as one of the founders of the so called variables oriented approach to sociological investigation. Durkheim developed the theory that societies are bound together by two sources of unity. He called these sources mechanical solidarity and organic solidarity. Mechanical solidarity refers to similarities that many people in the society share, such as values and religious beliefs. Organic solidarity results from the division of labor into specialized jobs. Durkheim believed that the division of labor makes people depend on one another and thus helps create unity in a society. Durkheim studied thousands of cases of suicide to demonstrate his theory that a person commits suicide because of the

Lets start by understanding that cultures are a melting pot of people’s beliefs, language, behaviors, values, material objects, and norms. Norms are written and non-written “expectations of behavior” that govern a certain location, place, or culture (26). These norms also vary from culture to culture meaning what is a norm in the U.S may not be a norm in India. For example, a norm in America would be tipping a waiter after a meal. Another would be acknowledging someone as you walk past him or her, typically done at work or in a public place. In all, norms are folkways, mores, taboos, and written laws that are an established standard of one’s behavior.

Durkheim argued that society needed a sense of solidarity, that is, its individual members must feel that they are part of a single group or community, reinforcing this statement with how social life and co-operation would be impossible without social solidarity as each individual would pursue their own selfish desires instead of working together to reach an agreement on important things. In his eyes the education system helped to create solidarity by transmitting society’s culture, shared beliefs and values from one generation to the next. For example, he argues that if a country’s history was taught, a sense of shared heritage and a commitment to wider social groups would be gradually established or instilled in the minds of children.

2. Durkheim: What term does Durkheim associate with social solidarity? How do societies achieve it organically and mechanically? What did he think threatened social solidarity?

A central principle of morality or values; “Shared ideas about what is good and desirable.” An example of value is the way by which people adjudicate facets of shared existence. The Normative characteristics encompass religion, a connotation of “a set of beliefs and practices pertaining to supernatural powers and the origins and meaning of life.” (gb) The most obvious example of religion being the self-identification with organized religion. Moving on, one must become accustomed with norms, or more simply “Shared rules and expectations about behavior.” (gb) Norms being seen in the forms of Folkways and mores, folkways being customary mannerisms and norms. Whereas, mores are norms that are elevated in importance in keeping with values of law and order. Supplementing norms are sanctioned, which society uses to achieve “A reward or punishment for conforming to or violating cultural norms.” (gb) Both “reward” and “punishment is easily palpable in the forms of upward social mobility and criminal proceedings made to include criminal punishments. Finally comes artifact, which manifests as “A physical product of a culture.” (GB) An archetype of artifact is a relic of any given culture. In summary, major characteristics of a culture create a commonality among regions, while allowing

Did you ever know that every country has different cultural values and norms that may cause misunderstanding among cultures around the globe? Of course, I didn’t really know that till I migrated from my country to the USA. A long time ago, I believed that the world was filled with homogenous societies which are based upon one culture only and that culture must be my own culture which I must follow as the ethnocentric standard to all other nations in the world. But later, I had experienced living in multi cultural communities and different continents around the globe, such as Africa and Asia, where getting involved in other people’s lives is very common. As a result of my experience, I have realized that American cultural values have less

As organic solidarity is typical of complex, industrialised societies, Durkheim’s theory is very applicable to modern life and the first world in particular. Individuality is a major feature of people living in the western world today e.g. the USA, UK, and Ireland. This is evident in our political and social thinking. Much emphasis is placed on personal rights and the belief that nothing is more important than us. (Hughes et al, 1995) Meanwhile we are not self-sufficient; we rely heavily on the expertise of thousands globally to live our daily lives e.g. the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the cars we drive etc. (Macionis and Plummer, 2005)

Throughout life, in any society we develop a sense to conform and adjust to our surroundings but why? Our values in our society determines our norms and why we do the things we do. I recently sought out to break these social conformities that violated the values, and norms we hold as a society. Every society is different and, in every society there are different and similar values, norms, sanctions folkways, and mores. Breaking them up and analyzing them we began to understand why these terms and values are so important to us.

Durkheim illustrates social solidarity as social unity and integration, that uses moral phenomenon to help understand the moral degrees in society. Durkheim suggest social solidarity works under two different types which are mechanical and organic solidarity. Durkheim defines mechanical solidarity as common value and beliefs that are shared within society, that creates unity and shared goals. Organic solidarity is the highest interaction between different groups, with diverse ideologies. Durkheim suggest that the Black Lives Matter movement use their social solidarity to achieve collective awareness of the unjust repressive laws that discriminate against African Americans within the judicial and prison system. Durkheim would suggest that the

Culture refers to socially shared and transmitted patterns of ideas (values, norms, and beliefs) that are instantiated in everyday practices, institutions, and artifacts (Tsai, Levenson, & McCoy, 2006). Culture may play an important role in emotional regulation and expression. Of particular interest is the interplay between collectivistic and individualistic societies and social expectations and customs.

Cultural values are the core principles and ideals upon which societies exist. Those values reflect several parts of a community, including customs, traditions, rituals, and religious beliefs among others. Cultural values are passed along from one generation to another and define the way of our everyday life. With the increase in globalization, it is important to understand cross-cultural values, and as parents or educators who are involved in the process of raising the next generation to understand some cross-cultural values and guide the children to appreciate the diverse environment that surrounds them in class, in playgrounds, or even in families.

Throughout his life, Durkheim has three main goals: establish sociology as a new academic discipline, analyze how societies maintain their integrity in the modern era, and lastly the practical implications of scientific knowledge. Durkheim’s contributions to social theory are expansive however the most impactful works were: The Division of Labor in Society and The Rules of Sociological Method. In his first work he introduced the concept of the breakdown of the influence of the societal norms on the individual, in his second work he stated what sociology is and how it should be acted out. Both of these works took social theory to a new level and they further help the individual understand his society.

His views can be divided into three different theories; the form of solidarity, Anomie, and the division of labor. Durkheim explained that there are two different types of the social integration; which is mechanical and organic solidarity. He explained that the mechanical solidarity forms a group or community where people affiliate and feel the comfort by regulated by the shared rules and the systems of beliefs, which is we call common conscience. The mechanical solidarity has a strong social morality compare to organic solidarity. The organic solidarity is more like an opposite theory of mechanical solidarity. The organic solidarity is the society that is more focused on individual’s values, performance in different tasks, and form a society that has less social morality with less common conscience. Durkheim explained, as a society grows up, the division of labor increases and become powerful. The mechanical and organic solidarity must exist in our society to keep the balance between the inequality and equality. But at the same time, it also makes big distance between the high class and working class and it is causing working class to feel devastated because of the differences of advantages and disadvantages between the high class and working

Durkheim was one of the most influential sociologists in relation to the functionalist theories which stated society consisted of a structural consensus with a collective conscience of shared norms and values. He argued in order to establish the meaning of society one must understand the structures and social facts. He highlights changes in society from traditional societies which were linked with mechanical solidarity consisting of small scale ties with little division of labour. This in turn created a strong collective conscience of unity in comparison to modern society where differences amongst groups are promoted in turn weakening social solidarity. This is due to rapid changes within society in which Durkheim emphasises is due to a complex division of labour. Durkheim then argues that due to the combination of enlightenment notions and a capitalist society a collective conscience of individualism and greed is created. (Jones, Bradbury and Boutillier, 2011, pp.62-64)