SOCI 6

Soci 3423

Frances Baldwin

University of Arkansas

Collective Consciousness and Society Laws

Law is created within the context of social and historical. The analysis of the law with a particular society has been profoundly affected by social theories. Two theories that have influenced the creation of western society laws are that of Emilie Durkheim and Du Bois. However, the concept of Durkheim on the collective conscience or social solidarity has had a more significant profound effect on the creation of societal laws through democratic parading.

Mishra, Chinmayee, and Navaneeta (2020) suggest that the collective consciousness notion can be found on the foundation of ideologies of democratic societies. These societies believe that the government represents the values and morals of most people in society. Durkheim conceived this notion and made theories about social changes that he witnessed in the late nineteenth century. It was a time of significant changes in economic, social, and technology. Technological advances were witnessed in industries due to the Industrial Revolution, which drew many people in the agricultural towns and cities in search of better-paying jobs. The transformations that took place within the collective-based societies that saw people shifting from being self-sufficient to interdependence mainly created cities specializing in labor. The interdependence and labor-specialized cities did not exist before the industrial revolution. Individuals became more dependent upon each other for their daily living hence became even more secularized.

As society continued to become more complex due to the transformation, the collective conscience also weakened. Mishra, Chinmayee, and Navaneeta (2020) explain that Durkheim feared that as the collective conscience weakened, the society could ultimately be thrown into a state without norms or an anomie state. Hence the organic society needed to develop a form of organic solidarity to combat the anomie. Like the collective conscience, solidarity is based on values and morals that are held normatively. The doctrine of legal controls entrenches all these morals and values. They are ideally based on the moral good of all people in society.

In the studies by Du Bois Brand (Anna 2018), he conceded that the social hierarchy that the centralized state created was not an optimum dynamic. However, he hoped that it could still benefit society. The functional aspect that the division of labor encompassed was advantageous to the greater society, even if it was seemingly arbitrary. Du Bois maintained that the hierarchical social structure that the specialization of labor created would at long last benefit all society members.

Moreover, Durkheim postulates that the components of the collective conscience are essential contributors to the sociology of law. There are many facets of law and law-making that the collective conscience ideal can be viewed. Moreover, the principle of democracy (Anna 2018), encompasses the ideal of law created for the good of all people in society. However, it has been perverted over time how Du Bois envisioned the structure of the society and enactment of law for justice and equality. The structure of power in Canada does not consist of the most collectively minded individuals and justice. The people with proper race, gender, class, and economic standing always occupy the higher positions. For this reason, the law that they create always reflect their morality, privilege, and the world’s vision.

In conclusion, the vision of Durkheim about the collective conscience reveals that the power structure existed to preserve solidarity and to uphold the values and morals of a society. Durkheim believed that the changes that were occurring in the economy were a benefit to all. The two concepts on the collective conscience had a more profound effect on creating societal laws through democratic parading.

Comparing some of the main arguments made by the theories (part II)

After looking at and understanding the nature and works of these two theorists, there is sufficient ground to discuss the comparison of their ideologies and works. It is important to understand that these two scholars were contemporaries. However, the social environment that they experienced and influenced their ideals was quite different. While Durkheim lived much of his life in Europe without any social prejudice or discrimination, Du Bois lived among white communities at a time when racism was at its peak. Despite these, the two theorists seemed to have shared similar conclusions.

One of the similar conclusions both Du Bois and Durkheim arrived at was the importance of a cohesive and integrated society. According to Durkheim, a society that works together seeks to improve humanity and lifestyle. Similarly, Du Bois argues that a collective push to a better society can only work when unity is present. He expresses this through the importance of church congregations and social structures that emerged from these congregations. Sociologist use the term status to infer to roles and benefits that a person faces in regards to their role and position within the society (OpenStax CNX, 2012).

However, a more important agreement that these two theorists put forward is the importance of religion to society. Durkheim explains that religion provides men with a guideline on how to achieve norms and avoid anomie in society. He argues that even though the logic behind religion may be misplaced, it plays a much larger role in providing a social center for cohesion. Similarly, Du Bois presents the importance that religion and churches played in providing social centers for the black community. On the other hand, Durkheim bases his research on secondary sources to understand social facts. According to Durkheim, religion may not be necessarily based on the existence of a superior being. He illustrates this by using Buddhism as an example, in that salvation in Buddhism is based on the worshiper and the need to attain individual sanctity just as Buddha did. In this respect, Durkheim explains that Buddhism does not require a superior being; rather it stresses self-holiness. Of importance to note here is that Durkheim does not practice Buddhism nor does he interview Buddhists. Instead, he relies on written information and pre-historical knowledge to arrive at this conclusion.

There are criticisms between these two persuasive and knowledgeable philosophers Du Bois and Durkheim that must be acknowledged. From an economic aspect, Du Bois managed to discern the color line. Seeing the color line necessitates a skeptical examination of the data with one’s eyes. Du Bois possessed the capability to self-evidence the ethnic injustices that were around him (OpenStax CNX, 2012). Durkheim, on the other hand, looked for theoretic topics that piqued his attention and presented evidence founded on his discoveries because he could not deliver self-evidence to his audience.

This rendered his conclusions more open-ended, whereas Du Bois’ is viewed as more literal because he had been personally exposed to these happenings as an African American male. In Durkheim and Du Bois comparison, it can be observed how “bits and pieces from Forms migrate separately from it, reduced to facile formulations about the social construction of collective identities” in current research of race, (OpenStax CNX, 2012). Durkheim and Du Bois are comparable in this regard, in that their attention was drawn to them by the racism in the politics of France’s Third Republic. Because Durkheim did not employ self-evidence, it would be easy for him to counter Du Bois, claiming that he only saw the social conceptions of race through the eyes of African Americans. However, Durkheim did not have direct involvement in these iniquities and therefore can be criticized.

Nevertheless, it is clear that Emile Durkheim and W.E.B. Du Bois was on the same page and shared a similar vision of how society should grow. Durkheim spoke from the viewpoint of the entire society because he was a white male who could not provide self-evidence to his audience, whereas Du Bois could prove self-evidence, however missed a whole other side to his theory. After all, he grounded his explanations and sentiments on those of African Americans (Tyrina, 2021). These ideas and social institutions have been deeply embedded in one’s head, making it extremely hard to modify a culture within a short time. We can observe how, as key historical individuals, Durkheim and Du Bois recommend that we as a society should transform for the wellbeing of everyone by looking at their ideas. With that, I’ll leave you with an Emile Durkheim quotation. “As a result, all communities must establish defined goals, rules, and aims as a community. When a group loses its shared objective and the norms that link its conducts together, it enters a state of “anomie,” or anarchy, in which rules are broken and purpose is lost forever.

Social theorists have always relied on studies and research to arrive at conclusions regarding various social aspects of society. Different theorists have employed different methodologies in arriving at such conclusions and expressing opinions through their works. David Émile Durkheim and Du Bois were contemporaries and studied social sciences. These two theorists made a valuable contribution to sociology and helped shape the discipline to what we know today. They shared similar views regarding the need for a cohesive society and the means to ensure the continuity of a socially just community.

References

Brand, Anna Livia. 2018.”The duality of space: The built world of Du Bois’ double-consciousness.” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 36.1: 3-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2020.1705366

Mishra, Chinmayee, and Navaneeta Rath. 2020. “Social solidarity during a pandemic: Through and beyond Durkheimian Lens.” Social Sciences & Humanities Open 2.1: 100079. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2020.100079

OpenStax CNX. (2012). Theoretical Perspectives on Society | Introduction to Sociology. Lumenlearning.com. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/sociology/chapter/theoretical-perspectives-on-society/

Tyrina, A. (2021). W. E. B. Du Bois and the Articulation of the Black American Double Consciousness: Social Fact or Fiction?. Retrieved 19 July 2021, from https://pubs.lib.umn.edu/index.php/aisthesis/article/view/1184

The post SOCI 6 Soci 3423 Frances Baldwin University of Arkansas Collective Consciousness and appeared first on PapersSpot.