Lesson 2 Part 1: Emilie Durkheim

• Functionalism

  A perspective that sees society as a structure with interrelated parts designed to meet the biological and social needs of the individuals in that society
• Herbert Spencer

  • Functionalism was inspired by his perspective in society
  • He saw similarities between society and the human body; he argued that just as the various organs of the body work together to keep the body functioning, the various parts of society work together to keep society functioning
  • The parts of society that Spencer referred to were the social institutions, or patterns of beliefs and behaviors focused on meeting social needs, such as government, education, family, healthcare, religion, and the economy, also mass media as of the present
• Society

  An organic being of interrelated parts that work together in harmony to reach common goals
• Failure of one institution

  Results to the failure of other institutions
• The pandemic

  • The PH government as an institution failed to keep it contained, so other institutions like education and family also became affected and failed
  • Others think the pandemic is just a test of god
• Emile Durkheim

  • Applied Spencer's theory to explain how societies change and survive over time
  • He believed that society is a complex system of interrelated and interdependent parts that work together to maintain stability
• How societies change over time

  1. Durkheim analyzed the different stages by looking at: Population

  2. Amount of Division of Labor

  3. Solidarity

  4. Morality

  5. Laws
• Population in different societies

  • Hunting and Gathering Societies: Around 25-40 people in a group
  • Horticultural and Pastoral Societies: Population increased due to temporary settlement, several hundred to thousands of people
  • Agrarian Societies: Settlement paved way for the increase of human population to a few million people
  • Industrial Societies: The discovery of machineries and technologies further increased human population to several hundred million
• Division of labor in different societies

  • Hunting and Gathering Societies: Few division of labor (Hunters - Gatherers), people do almost the same things
  • Horticultural and Pastoral Societies: Increase in division of labor, creation of specializations such as traders, tribal leaders, priests, medicine men
  • Agrarian Societies: Extensive specialization, creation of positions such as the ruler, the scribe, the academician, the artist, the merchant
  • Industrial Societies: Further division of labor specially because of the development in the field of academe aside from the economy in terms of machinery
• Mechanical Solidarity

  People bind because of their similarities, they do almost the same work
• Organic Solidarity

  Differences of our activities or division of labor resulted in INTERDEPENDENCE, people are forced to depend on each other due to differentiation of skills because of specializations
• Collective Consciousness

  There is only one notion of what is right or wrong, the same lived experience
• Collective Representations

  Each group or collectives have different sets of norms and values
• Repressive Laws

  A mistake of one is a mistake of all, harsh methods of punishment
• Restitutive Laws

  Laws are enacted by specialized agencies (Judiciary) to handle decisions, only the person at fault is liable, punishments are more humane
• Durkheim's "Pathologies"

  Illness of Society, Pathologies can be cured
• Anomic Division of Labor

  Lack of Collective Conscience due to Anomic Division of Labor, Bonds created by Division of Labor are Meaningless and Superficial, Anomie is a state of normlessness and a lack of normal ethical or social standards
• Anomie is caused by

  The division of labor and rapid social change from traditional to modern society
• Forced Division of Labor

  People occupying some positions in society are not the right people, positions are given not by virtue of Meritocracy
• For Durkheim, the problems in society are dysfunctions because some people who are in positions are not the right people, and because of this they are unable to function properly in this position which results to the failure of the institution