Durkheim

• Durkheim was concerned by rapid social change and the transition to modern industrial society.

  He saw this as a change from a simple social structure to one with a complex, specialised division of labour.
• traditional society - mechanical solidarity

  • Traditional society was based on ‘mechanical solidarity’ with little division of labour, where all its members were fairly alike.
  • A strong collective conscience bound them so tightly together that individuals in the modern sense did not really exist.
• modern society - social solidarity

  • the division of labour promotes differences between groups and weakens social solidarity. 
  • led to greater individualism - however must be regulated to prevent extreme egoism destroying all social bonds
  • rapid change undermines old norms without creating clear new ones, throwing people into a state of anomie or normlessness that threatens social cohesion. 
• external social facts

  • idea that society exists as a separate entity over and above its members – a system of external ‘social facts’ shaping their behaviour to serve society’s needs.
  • e.g beliefs, laws, values, customs
• studies sociology as a science through positivist methodology