persons or groups within the whole. Furthermore, according to Durkheim, the larger consciousness informs and in part determines the development of individuals within it. This does not mean that the society itself is necessarily static. Indeed, the particular expressions of collective sentiment or will may evolve in response to shifting external forces. In this view, any conflict between groups within the society or between individuals and the society as a whole is transitory in nature, and it implies that a given society may always contain the potential for major social change.
The position of the individual in society is measured either mechanically or organically. In a mechanically organized society, there is a high level of social integration and shared social outlook which is ultimately highly structured. In an organically organized society, there are many different outlooks which are resolved in an ordered expression of production and ability. Societies that begin mechanically may also develop into an organismic organization. It is in the transition from one to the other that social change may occur. To put it another way, there is a gradual movement by differing parts of society toward an organic whole rather than a constant, unformed state of conflict. This entails recognition of the complexity of larger societies.
Fundamental to the character of a highly organized society is what Durkheim refers to as the division of labor, which is the linchpin of a theory of society that describes the laws governing human interaction. In formulating his theory, Durkheim sought to answer the theories of Herbert Spencer, who according to Anthony Giddens held "that solidarity in the division of labor is produced automatically by each individual's pursuing his own interests in economic exchange with others."1I In other words, the self interest of individuals would inhere in a stable moral order comprising many individuals. Giddens al...