The Division of Labour in Society

406 Pages·1984·37.976 MB·English

by  Emile Durkheim (auth.)

CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL THEORY
General Editor:ANTHONY GIDDENS
This series aims to create a forum for debate between different theoretical and
philosophicaltraditions in thesocial sciences.Aswellascovering broad schoolsof
thought, the series also concentrates upon the work of particular thinkers whose
ideas have hadamajorimpactonsocialscience (these books appearunder the sub
series title of "Theoretical Traditions in the Social Sciences"). The series is not
limited toabstract theoretical discussion - it also includes more substantial works
oncontemporarycapitalism,thestate, politics andother subjectareas.
Publishedtitles
MartinAlbrow,MaxWeber'sConstructionofSocial Theory
Tony Bilton, Kevin Bonnett,Philip Jones,KenSheard,MichelleStanworth and
Andrew Webster,IntroductorySociology (2ndedition)
Emile Durkheim,TheDivisionofLabourinSociety (trans.W.D.Halls)
Emile Durkheim,TheRulesofSociologicalMethod (ed.Steven Lukes,trans.
W. D.Halls)
Anthony Giddens,A ContemporaryCritiqueofHistorical
Materialism (2ndedition)
Anthony Giddens,CentralProblems inSocial Theory
Anthony GiddensandDavid Held(eds), Classes,Powerand Conflict:Classical
and ContemporaryDebates
TerryJohnson, ChristopherDandekerandClive Ashworth,TheStructureofSocial
Theory
Gerry Rose,Deciphering SociologicalResearch
THEORETICAL TRADITIONS IN THE
SOCIAL SCIENCES
General Editor: ANTHONY GIDDENS
This series introduces the work of major figures insocial science to students
beyond theirimmediatespecialisms.
Published Titles
IraJ.Cohen,StructurationTheory:AnthonyGiddens and theConstitution of
SocialLife
Mark Cousins and Athar Hussain, Michel Foucault
William Outhwaite,New PhilosophiesofSocialScience:Realism,
Hermeneuticsand Critical Theory
Dennis Smith, The Chicago School: ALiberalCritiqueofCapitalism
The Division of Labour in
Society
Emile Durkheim
With an introduction by Lewis Coser
w.
Translated by D. Halls
IntroductionCLewisCoser1984
TranslationCMacmillanPress1984
AUrightsreserved.Noreproduction,copyortransmissionof
thispublicationmaybemadewithoutwrittenpermission.
Noparagraphofthispublicationmaybereproduced,copiedor
transmittedsavewithwrittenpermissionorinaccordancewith
theprovisionsoftheCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988,
orunderthetermsofanylicencepermittinglimitedcopying
issuedbytheCopyrightlicensingAgency,90TottenhamCourt
Road.LondonW1T4LP.
Anypersonwhodoesanyunauthorisedactinrelationtothis
publicationmaybeliabletoaiminalprosecutionandcivil
claimsfordamages.
Theauthorshaveassertedtheirrightstobeidentifiedastheauthorsof
thisworkinaccordancewiththeCopyright.DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
Firstpublished1984by
PALGRAVE
Houndmills,Basingstoke,HampshireRG21 6XSand
175FifthAvenue,NewYork.N.Y.10010
Companiesand representativesthroughouttheworld
PALGRAVEIsthenewglobalacademicimprintof
StMartin'sPressLLCScholarlyandReferenceDivisionand
PalgravePublishersLtd(formerlyMaaniUanPressLtd).
ISBN978-0-333-33981-7 ISBN978-1-349-17729-5(eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-17729-5
Thisbookisprintedonpapersuitableforrecyclingand
madefromfullymanagedandsustainedforestsources.
Acataloguerecordforthisbookisavailable
fromtheBritishLibrary.
13 12 11 10 9
03 02
Contents
Translator's Note vii
Introduction (by Lewis Coser) ix
Preface to the First Edition xxv
Preface to the Second Edition xxxi
Introduction 1
BOOK I THE FUNCTION OF THE DIVISION OF
LABOUR
ChapterI: The Method of DeterminingThis Function 11
Chapter II: Mechanical Solidarity, or Solidarity by
Similarities 31
Chapter III: Solidarity Arising from the Division of Labour,
or Organic Solidarity 68
Chapter IV: Another Proofof the PrecedingTheory 88
Chapter V:The Increasing Preponderance of Organic
Solidarity and itsConsequences 101
Chapter VI: The Increasing Preponderance of Organic
Solidarity and its Consequences (cont.) 126
Chapter VII: Organic Solidarity and Contractual Solidarity 149
BOOK II THE CAUSES AND CONDITIONS
Chapter I: The Progress of the Division of Labourand of
Happiness 179
ChapterII:The Causes 200
Chapter III:Secondary Factors 226
Chapter IV:Secondary Factors (cont.) 246
Chapter V: Consequences of the Foregoing 269
vi Contents
BOOK III THE ABNORMAL FORMS
Chapter I: The Anomie Division of Labour 291
Chapter II:The Forced Division of Labour 310
Chapter III: Another Abnormal Form 323
Conclusion 329
Index 343
Translator's Note
For various reasons it has proved impossible to check every
footnote and to supply complete references. Durkheirn omitted
veryfrequently details that would have made this possible.
However, most of the direct quotations from English-speaking
authors have been found and the original inserted. Where this has
not been possible, what are givenasdirectquotationsinDurkheim
have been turned into indirect speech.
W.O.H.
vii
Introduction*
Emile Durkheim's The Division ofLabourin Society,hisdoctoral
dissertation and his first major work, was published in 1893.
Though a previous translation into English appeared in 1933, the
presentvolumeisthefirstexact,adequateand satisfyingtranslation
of this key work.
The Division ofLabour isa highly original treatmentof thesub
ject,yet it should be read within the contextof earlier attempts to
come togripswith thecomplexdivisionoflabourthatemergedwith
the industrial revolution, first in England and then on the Conti
nent. Whatisnovel inDurkheim'sthoughtcan bestbeunderstoodif
one refers,even ifonly sketchily,to previousattemptsto defineand
come to grips with the emergence of an unprecedented system of
production and the allocationof bothproductiveandothersocietal
tasks in the late eighteenth century.
Some forms ofthedivision oflabour,beitonly alongsexuallines,
havecharacterised allknowntypes ofsocietyfrom the'primitive'to
the modern.Inallofthem,certaintypes oflabour,butalso ofother
functions, were allocated to specific groups of people.Even in the
smallest known human societies there are some forms of human
differentiation in the allocation of tasks and roles.
* In the following pages Iamdeeply indebt to the writings of Anthony
Giddens on Durkheim, in particular his Capitalism and Modern Social
Theory (Cambridge,Cambridge University Press, 1971)and hisDurkheim
(London,Fontana/Collins,1978).Ialsoowe agreatdeal toStevenLukes's
EmileDurkheim:His Life and Work (London, Allen Lane, 1973).Other,
lessextensive,debts are acknowledged intextual notes.Philippe Besnard
and AnthonyGiddensreadanearlierversionofthisintroductionand made
many helpful suggestionsfor which Iam grateful.
ix
x Introduction
Mediaeval society and its characteristic thinkers were welJaware
ofthe diversityofwork activitiesintheir midst,and writings on the
differences among such 'callings' took prominent place among the
Protestant reformers of the sixteenth century and after. But the
pre-modern division of labour involved, by and large, either
divisions between urban artisansand rural folk who were involved
inspecific trades and occupationsor rough class divisions between
the members of the various estates that together made up pre
modern society. Butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers
fashioned productsofadifferent nature and weresocially visiblein
the pursuitofthesedifferentoccupationalwaysoflife.On the other
hand, there were sharpdivisionsbetween those devoted to military
affairs, peoplewho were following areligiouscalling,and those,the
greatmajority, who labouredinthe fields or in urbanoccupations.
Aqualitativesea changeinthe characterofthedivision oflabour
- achangefrom relativesimplicityto rapidlyadvancingcomplexity
- occurred, though adumbrations can be found much earlier, only
withthe beginningofthe industrialrevolution,first inthe latterpart
of the eighteenth century in England and soon after in the rest of
Europe and in America.
Theemergingindustrialform ofproduction involvedthe gradual
replacementofanartisanalmodeofproduction,thatis,adivisionof
labour in which a particular producer, sometimes with the assis
tance of a few others, fashioned a whole product, by a mode of
production based on a much finer differentiation of tasks and
activitiesthanpreviously.Theproductsofthe new industrialsystem
were no longercreatedbyindividualcraftsmen orbythe collabora
tion of a few,but emerged instead from the co-ordinated activities
of a large number of persons who had been assigned specialised
tasks. Thefinalproductwasthe resultofthe integrationofthe work
of a great number of workers who were submitted to overall
discipline and co-ordination - be it by the tyranny of the clock, by
the constraints of supervisors, or by mechanical rhythms.
Moreover, the diversification of economic tasks was paralleled in
the modern era by differentiation in many other spheres, in
government as well as in the law, in the sciences as well as in legal
institutions.
Adam Smith's The Wealth ofNations was the first major work
that attempted to come to grips with this revolutionary develop
ment not only inthe productivesystembut in the generalcharacter