Introduction to

Sociology
Lecture 3
Different theoretical approaches to society
Emile Durkheim
Division of Labor
Mechanic and Organic Solidarity
Dr. Feyda Sayan Cengiz
 Recap from last week
• Emergence of sociology as a scientific study of societies
• The way to the emergence of sociology:
• Enlightenment thought (belief in human rationality , scientific method , positivism and
objectivity, secularism and opposition to the clergy)
• Great transformations in society
• French Revolution (change in political ideas - social implications)
• Industrial Revolution ( mass production, urbanization, development of capitalism)
Concerns with dissolution of traditional bonds
 Theoretical approaches to society
What is a theory?
Sociologists develop theories to explain social phenomena.
- A theory aims to explain why or how a phenomenon occurs – sociological theories
try to explain causality relations in social life, make predictions about society. They are
sets of statements about social facts, based on empirical observations and ideas about
the world.

- Theoretical approaches as «windows» to look at social world. What you focus on

and what you see depends on your «angle»
 How/in what way have societies changed?
What happens to people when societies
change?
• Three different theoretical approaches and explanations proposed by three
figures
• Marx: The change in mode of production and a new form of class conflict
– that is what’s new
• Weber: The change in worldviews – from traditional to rational – that is
what’s new
• Durkheim: The way in which society holds together changes – from
organical to mechanical solidarity – that is what’s new
 Emile Durkheim and his theoretical approach
• Sociology as a science – Studying social facts
• His question: What holds societies together?
• Collective consciousness
• Division of labor – evolution of division of labor from pre-industrial to industrial societies
• Mechanical – based on similarity of actors
• Organic – based on difference of actors (where does solidarity come from then?)
• Anomie
• Types of suicide
 Durkheim

Lived btw 1858 – 1917

French

Revolt against his parents

Founding father of sociology

 Roots of modern sociology

• Emile Durkheim
- Sociology must develop methodology
(it should distance itself from philosophy
and psychology)
- Sociology should be objective
- «Social facts»
 Durkheim and sociology as a science
• “Study social facts as things!” – No value judgements, total objectivity
• “To love society is to love something beyond us and something in ourselves”
(Durkheim)
• Collective consciousness is bigger than the sum of individual consciousnesses
• Social facts (patterns of human behavior, cultural norms, values, beliefs) exist outside
of, and beyond, ourselves. We are shaped by society.
• His idea of human nature – selfish, should be regulated by social norms, values
• Structure vs. agency – Durkheim stresses structure
 Durkheim
• The major question undergirding his work:
What holds societies together? (So big transformations, urbanization, industrialization,
dissolution of former community ties. Still, society keeps together. How?)
Social harmony is important in Durkheim
The analogy of “human body” – Crisis situations, conflict etc. are like illness
Social norms, value systems have a “function”: To keep the body healthy (so a focus
on the “functions” of social phenomena in terms of keeping society together)
Lack of social norms and weak value systems – lead to “pathologies” such as anomie
 Durkheim
Division of labor –

Mechanical solidarity (in pre-modern era)

Based on the similarity of people (similar value systems, similar lifestyles)
Social norms are quite strict – staying out of them is dangerous
Punitive law
 Durkheim
Organic solidarity
Modernization : from mechanical → organic solidarity
Specialized economic activity
Difference of people
Interdependence
People lead different lives, have different occupations, hence social norms and
value systems are also differentiated
Society is becoming more complex
 Durkheim, Anomie and Suicide

• Anomie: A condition in which society provides little moral guidance to individuals –

value systems are weakening, social norms are ambiguous (ex: rural to urban
migration)
• Why is Durkheim so interested in suicide? Bec it is a signpost of pathology
• Types of suicide: Egoistic (lack of integration with society, lack of belonging to a
group, lack of solidarity)– anomic (lack of moral guidance, social values) – altruistic
(too much integration with society, sacrificing yourself as a duty)- fatalistic (too
much pressure from society– no agency at all)