From mechanical to organic solidarity, and back

With Honneth beyond Durkheim

Bibliographic Data

ID2397929
AuthorsPeter Thijssen (0000-0002-1202-8452, University of Antwerp, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume15
Issue4
Pages454-470
Publication date2012-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Social Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1368-4310 • E-ISSN: 1461-7137
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1368431011423589
OpenAlexW2335025528
LanguageEN
Citations received47
References cited42

This article focuses on the theory of solidarity presented by Émile Durkheim in The Division of Labour in Society ([1893] 1969). Despite its popularity, the distinction between mechanical and organic solidarity has received a lot of criticism. Durkheim allegedly was unable to demonstrate the superior integrating force of modern organic solidarity, while this was his central thesis at the time. A second critique challenges his macrostructural point of view. However, by confronting Durkheim's classical theory with contemporary work, notably Honneth's theory of recognition, we can deduce a reformulated framework that is less vulnerable to the afore-mentioned critiques. On the one hand, we specify mechanical and organic solidarity as a dialectical synthesis of both internalized universalistic principles and particularistic emotional orientations. On the other, we incorporate the foregoing typology in a cyclical model that implies interacting processes of inclusion and individualization

Criticism · Dialectic · Epistemology · Political science · Popularity · Sociology · Solidarity · Typology · Anthropology · Emile Durkheim and Sociology · Law · Philosophy · Philosophy, Sociology, Political Theory · Psychology · Social Psychology · Social Sciences and Governance

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