Emile Durkheim is among one of the founding fathers of sociology. In 1983, he presented and pioneered the concept of collective consciousness in his book “The Division of Labor in Society”. Emile Durkheim theory was based on comparative analysis of traditional and modern social facts. He believed that, human beings are selfish creatures and their behavior is driven by insatiable desires thus, they need something common which bring them together in order to create community or society. Furthermore, he argued that, collective consciousness is the force that hold individuals and societies together. The force of collective consciousness is developed when norms and values are established and collectively shared by individuals within a given society.
Furthermore, he argued that force of collective consciousness is strong in primitive societies and when traditional societies go through the process of modernization collective consciousness begins to break down. In the initial stage social change process the phenomenon of anomie begin to appear within societies. The occurrence of anomie remains within societies until traditional societies are completely transformed into modern societies. Moreover, it does not mean that without force of collective consciousness modern societies will not survive or function properly however, the force of division of labor keep modern societies intact. High division of labor create interdependence among individuals within industrial societies. Individuals depend on one another to fulfill their basic needs which hold them and modern societies together.
Written by; Khushdil Khan Kasi
