Sociology 401
Sociological Theory
Fall 2001
Dr. Scott Schaffer

Week 6-8 Discussion Questions: On Morality and Society, pp. 63-224

Due Date: Mon Oct 15/2001.

Note: I've combined these two sets of discussion questions for the purposes of expediency. For these discussion questions, you are asked to submit only the last two questions in each section (so questions 6 and 7 for the division of labour questions, and 4 and 5 for the religion questions).

1. Define the following terms as Durkheim uses them:

Mechanical solidarity
Organic solidarity
Contractual solidarity
Division of labor
Morality
Relationship between form of solidarity and form of morality
Human nature
Totem and the totemic principle
Moral ascendancy
"mana"
"the sacred" vs. "the profane"
"empirical monism" vs. "idealist monism"
Religion

Division of labour questions

2. Durkheim argues that a certain number of factors are involved in the transition from mechanical forms of solidarity to organic forms of solidarity. What are these factors? How are these factors related to aspects of the form of society from which they spring; in other words, what is Durkheim's theory of progress? How do you see these factors operating in our society, and what kinds of changes in our social relations do you think will result from these factors?

3. Throughout the selections from The Division of Labour in Society, Durkheim uses Spencer's idea of "social Darwinism" as a foil for his own theory of how societies progress. How are Spencer's ideas different from Durkheim's? To what do you attribute these differences - to the method they use (see the readings from week 2)? To a different idea of the relationships between the individual and society? Or to something else?

4. Durkheim's depiction of mechanical and organic forms of solidarity appear to be somewhat ambivalent. What are the "pros" and "cons" of each form of solidarity? What is the relationship between the two? Are there elements of our own social order that can be described using these concepts?

5. How are Durkheim's idea of the division of labor and his idea of "civilization" related? Why are they related to his mind? How does the issue of "happiness" tie into this? Do you see any drawbacks from this view of "civilization"?

6. Durkheim's purpose in the readings for this week is to study how people become more interdependent at the same time they become more independent and individualized. What are the reasons he gives for this apparent paradox? Do you see the ways in which this occurs in our time?

7. Durkheim's writings on the sociological method and on individualism were done at approximately the same time The Division of Labour in Society was written. How do the writings on method make their appearance here? (Keep in mind when responding to this question that the previous writings aren't just on method, but rather deal with issues of individualism and the question of "social facts" as well; hence, there may be other linkages at work here.)

Religion questions

2. The article "The Dualism of Human Nature" deals with one of the quintessential philosophical questions: How do we explain the "mind/body dualism?" What is Durkheim's response to this question? How does he develop the idea of our contradictory natures?

3. Durkheim develops the argument in The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (pp. 167-223) that the totem arises from a particular relationship between a society's god and the society itself. What is that relationship? How does Durkheim develop the argument that society and its god are "equivalent"? How do society and gods reflect what Durkheim calls the "collective consciousness"?

4. What linkages do you see between Durkheim's discussion of mechanical and organic forms of solidarity and his discussion of mana? Between the forms of solidarity and the tensions between the sacred and the profane? In general, how does Durkheim's discussion of religion flesh out the missing aspects of his theory of social balance?

5. The selections from The Elementary Forms of Religious Life tie directly back to Durkheim's discussion of mechanical and organic forms of solidarity (as discussed in last week's readings). Durkheim's problem in The Division of Labour in Society is the simultaneous process of the increasing independence and interdependence of individuals; in Elementary Forms, it is how religious beliefs take on a universal and apparently immutable existence. What relationships do you see between these two ideas? What tensions do you see?