Durkheim realized thar TDL did not always result in the shared organic

solidarity that he expected. Workers fought employers, industrial and

commercial crisis shook the economuy, and many people seemed unhappy in
their jobs. These conditions reflected what he calls the "anomic" and "forced"
divisions of labor.

He beliveded that for TDL to engender solidarity, each person must be

performing a task they find agreeable. A well-dunctioning division of labor
creates a perfect meritocracy. If the division of labor is working smoothly,
then only natural talents will determine the type of activity one does.

If high levels of social mobility are possible, and poeple view the society they
live in as fairly meritocratic, they will accept some degree of inequality and
social cohesion will not break down

But Drukheim contends that a meritocratic society reqiures stong measures

to ensure its survival. Governments must redistribute wealth to make sure
that every ones has a fair chance to succeed.

Social Solodarity II

The elementary forms of religious life

Durkheims theory of reliigon was based on the study of totemism in the

aboriginal, classless societies of australia and North america, but it was
intended to have a wider applicability to modern societies.

Although he did not use the word 'ideology' in this connection, durkheim
decribed the socially binding functions of ideologies, and emphasized the
ways in which they have individuals a sense of identity.

According to Durkheim, religious beliefs and practices are collective

representations that carry authority because they seem to emanate from a
transcendent scource; they transcend the individual, sectional interests, or
mundane considerations.

He provides examples of this symbolic codes through which systems of

collective representation are constructed. In the case of the totemic religion
of the clan-based societies of the austrailisan aboringes

This distinction between the 'sacred' adn the 'profane' was called by
durkheim an elementary form of " primitive classification"

That means not only a classification which is found in pre-literate societies,

but one which is fundamental, primal, and basic to al lhuman cultures
All social formations will have some beliefs, values

Once the world is divided into sacred and profane realms which are opposed
to one another, the sacred is then surrounded by myriad rituals whic hallow it
to maintain a distance from profane life.

Individuals need to reaffrim their sense of community, their collective vitality,

their sahred ideals , through rituals and ceremnonies