A Formal Restatement of Durkheim's 'Division of Labor' Theory

Bibliographic Data

ID2248366
AuthorsJack P Gibbs (Vanderbilt University, corresponding author)
Year2003
Volume21
Issue2
Pages103-127
Publication date2003-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociological Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0735-2751 • E-ISSN: 1467-9558
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/1467-9558.00180
OpenAlexW2012337430
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited49

Despite frequent references in the sociological literature to Durkheim's theory about the division of labor, sociologists have made few attempts to test it. The paucity of attempts and the very debatable outcomes thereof are due largely to Durkheim's use of the traditional discursive mode of theory construction. A discursively stated theory's logical structure is likely to be obscure, and for that reason alone tests of it are difficult and controversial. Rather than perpetuate the exegetical tradition in sociological treatments of the subject, this paper restates Durkheim's theory in accordance with a particular formal mode. That restatement identifies the theory's shortcomings and problems. But the eight premises imply only one testable theorem, and the theorem's predictive accuracy appears minimal unless 'population concentration' is substituted for 'density' in the first axiom. Nonetheless, the restatement clearly shows how extension of the theory (additional postulates) could further its testability

Axiom · Division of labour · Economics · Epistemology · Political science · Positive economics · Social science · Sociological theory · Sociology · Testability · Computer Science · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Critical Realism in Sociology · Emile Durkheim and Sociology · Law · Mathematics · Philosophy

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