Original scientific paper
DURKHEIM'S THEORY OF SOLIDARITY AND ITS CRITICISM
Duško Lozina
; Faculty of Law, University of Split, Split, Croatia
Abstract
The author analyzes the theoretical postulates of Emile Durkheim's concept of solidarity, which for us in Croatia - due to the circumstances - has outstanding theoretical and practical significance. The author looks into the theories that shaped Durkheim's idea of solidarity: that of legal solidarity, a major theoretical development, particularly within the French administrative law of the time (with a special emphasis on the seminal book by Leon Bourgeois)and that of the theory of community, focusing on German sociologist Ferdinand Tonnies as well as on some of his predecessors such as Otto von Gierke, Henry Sumner Maine and Fustel de Coulanges. The author claims that this mental framework immensely influenced Durkheim's concept of solidarity which he put forward in his famous study De la division du travail social in 1893. The author gives a review of Durkheim's central postulates and discusses the distinctions between the so called "mechanical" and "organic" solidarity. And finally, certain faults in Durkheim's theory are pointed out. Nevertheless and despite these well-founded objections, Durkheim's solidarity theory remains an "object lesson" in understanding solidarity.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
105868
URI
Publication date:
4.10.1996.
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