Critically examine the analysis by Durkheim of the threats to social solidarity posed by industrialization and discuss possible solutions to such threats.

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     Critically examine the analysis by Durkheim of the threats to social solidarity posed by industrialization and discuss possible solutions to such threats.

In the late eighteenth century, human societies have developed gradually from pre-modern societies to modern industrial societies. Individualism, capitalism and urbanism are the three key transformations took place in modern societies. All of them have a very important impact on people’s life, or even social stability. I am going to illustrate these three features and their influences on people and society, including Durkheim’s thesis of the threats to social solidarity, and the possible solution to the threats in the following paragraphs.

Durkheim wrote that modern industrial society was characterized by a transition from mechanical solidarity to organic solidarity. “Solidarity which comes from likeness is at its maximum when the collective conscience completely envelops our whole conscience with all points in it. But at that moment our individuality is nil. It can be borne only if the community takes a small toll of us.” In the pre-industrial society, which has a mechanical solidarity, social cohesion based upon the likeness and similarities among individuals in a society, and largely dependent on common rituals and routines. They share the same beliefs and values which Durkheim called “ collective consciousness ”, and to a large degree, the same role. The division of labour is comparatively unspecialized, and the basic techniques regulated and repeated from generation to generation. People are self-sufficient.

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On the other hand, in the industrial society, social cohesion based upon the dependence of individuals in more advance society is weaved together by a set of interconnecting needs and obligations. In order to produce more goods and services, members of society need to be more specializing in particular role. This led to the division of labour. (Also the result of capitalism.) The widening division of labour makes for greater individual skill in a society based on mutual interdependence. “ The order and very survival of society depends on their reliance on each other to perform their specific task.” ...

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