Reorganization and Stabilization

Social Mechanisms in Émile Durkheim’s Professional Ethics and Civic Morals: A Contribution to the Explanation of Social Processes

Bibliographic Data

ID2404514
AuthorsJürgen Mackert (Humboldt University, Germany, corresponding author)
Year2004
Volume4
Issue3
Pages311-336
Publication date2004-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Classical Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1468-795X • E-ISSN: 1741-2897
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1468795x04046970
OpenAlexW2072698378
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited66

The consequences of economic globalization have created a new interest in ¥Emile Durkheim's conception of an institutional and moral reorganization of modern society that he developed in Professional Ethics and Civic Morals. Contrary to existing attempts to explain these political processes towards democratization, this article argues for a causal analysis of social change and concentrates on the social mechanisms that trigger the reorganization process of modern society. Two theses are entertained. The first thesis argues that the programme of an institutional and moral reorganization of modern society can be reanalysed as a causal process of democratization. This process takes two steps. While social mechanisms of reorganization bring about the institutional and moral reorganization of modern society, social mechanisms of stabilizationguarantee the functioning of the emerging democratic system. Further, the second thesis argues that this kind of explanation can be applied to Durkheim's vision of a European confederation. The analysis reveals that his idea of a 'post-national' constellation refers to crucial problems of the recent debate regarding a democratic deficit in the European Union, and it shows that Durkheim's contribution to both political sociology and historicalcomparative research has been misconceived and prematurely repudiated

Democracy · Democratization · Economics · Epistemology · European union · Globalization · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Social science · Sociology · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Critical Realism in Sociology · Law · Social and Cultural Dynamics