International Journal of Social Science Research (IJSSR)

The Division of Labour in Society and Contemporary Issues: An Analysis from Durkheimian Perspective

The society we live in today witness enormous specialization of roles which in turn leads to the increase of human dependency in contemporary world. The Durkheimian concept of transition from mechanical to organic solidarity shows this perfectly and is clearly relevant here in discussing the kinds of solidarity that maintains the cohesiveness in today’s world. This paper discusses about the Durkheim’s division of labour in comprehensive manner and how changing social solidarity have influenced and changed the way a society works and interacts. This paper touches the issue of this changing solidarity through rapid urbanization and how technological advances have added to this specialization of roles. Durkheim considered this division of labour as law of nature., people either desire for jobs which are intense, concentrated rather scattered over a wide area or, they are forced to do so. In either case it is considered to increase cooperation because it increases human dependency. However, Durkheim have also introduced the abnormal forms which results from it, for example due to extreme specialization of labour they become easily isolated and strive to discover their existential value in the labour market. This paper will be discussing about the results of technological advancements leading to extremely specialized roles in the virtual world.