DURKHEIM'S VIEWS ON SOCIETY

INTERNATIONALSCIENCES, EDUCATION AND NEW LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES VOLUME 2 | ISSUE 7 | 2025 https://internationalsciences.org/ | Social Sciences and Humanities | October, 2025 25 DOI: https://10.5281/zenodo.17482695 DURKHEIM’S VIEWS ON SOCIETY Sultanov T., Berdibaev A. Tashkent State University of Economics ABSTRACT This article examines the division of labor in society, the need to study society through social facts, suicide, and the humanization of society. Keywords: the unity, sociology, positivist, objects, social, anomia, Anarchy, mechanical solidarity, organic solidarity There are also various definitions that society is a part of nature, that is, a social being, a special form of human association, a set of numerous relationships operating between people. Society is a complex system that is constantly developing and improving. In each new era, the need to understand the essence of society arises. Thanks to national independence, the need arose for a new understanding of the essence of society. At the same time, this concept is also applied to the life of people on the territory of a state, to the life of certain periods of civilization. In any case, it is a general concept, and the individual is called a member of society. Society consists of a combination of material and spiritual factors. Until now, material and spiritual life in literature differed sharply from each other. More attention will be paid to the study of material life. However, the fundamental essence of society is inextricably linked with the human essence that constitutes it. Just as the human body cannot be separated from its spirit, it is illogical to separate the material and spiritual aspects of society and prioritize one over the other. Durkheim’s main idea is that society is based on the unity of people . If this unity weakens, society becomes sick. To restore vital solidarity, it is necessary to find the right treatment. According to Durkheim, sociology is the science of this unity, its foundations, weakening, and ways to restore it. Durkheim believed that in his time, in France, solidarity was weakened, that is, society was sick. It refutes the notion that sociology should also use the same social concepts that members of society use to understand their social relations (see Winch, Chapter 29). INTERNATIONALSCIENCES, EDUCATION AND NEW LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES VOLUME 2 | ISSUE 7 | 2025 https://internationalsciences.org/ | Social Sciences and Humanities | October, 2025 26 According to Durkheim, sociology must search for other, better concepts. The scientist explains this situation using the example of suicide. Based on everyday language and life, Durkheim developed a concept of suicide that could be statistically treated, revealing the relationship between the amount of suicide and social conditions. Based on the various emotional and individual aspects of suicide, that is, what people think about suicide, Durkheim, as a sociologist, moves away from psychology. It seeks to find statistical changes in the frequency of suicides based on people’s gender, age, marital status, beliefs, nationality, social background, etc. As a sociologist, Durkheim laid the foundation for a theoretical work. (However, it is not limited to just statistics.) Based on them, Durkheim created the theory of society, that is, the theory of social solidarity. According to this theory, the reason for the frequent recurrence of suicides stems from a weak sense of solidarity. Sometimes Durkheim’s style is called positivist. However, this word has so many meanings that it needs to be explained every time it is used. Durkheim is not a positivist in the logical-positivist sense. He is a positivist in the sense that he studies what exists (existence is "positive") and wants to know how society moves as it moves. He wants to make radical changes ("denial," compare with Hegel, Marx, Sartre, criticism, variability = "denial"). To treat unhealthy social disintegration, Durkheim strives to understand things as they are. views social changes as factors weakening society.) While the sociologist asserts that social phenomena should be viewed as objects, Durkheim attempts to gather statistical material that needs further processing using conventional subtle concepts. Such an approach requires a departure from the tradition of sociological research based on complete understanding. However, naturalistic reduction, which assumes that social phenomena, like natural objects, have an ontological status, cannot be an integral part of such a statistical theoretical approach. Based on statistical data on suicide, Durkheim believed that he was able to explain social solidarity and identify the reasons for its weakening. He calls the weakening of social solidarity anomia (Greek a-name - absence of law, norm), i.e., "absence of norm" . In short, the state of anomie - people The weakening of connecting bonds. In the state of anomie, individuals become intolerant to difficulties and hardships, which leads to an increase in suicides. According to Durkheim, anomie is less common among married people (the stronger the social cohesion, the less suicides occur); in families with children than in families without children; in Catholics than in Protestants; in small communities than in large cities. Family, marriage, and religion (as a social form of life), especially Catholicism, are thus reinforcing factors. INTERNATIONALSCIENCES, EDUCATION AND NEW LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES VOLUME 2 | ISSUE 7 | 2025 https://internationalsciences.org/ | Social Sciences and Humanities | October, 2025 27 According to Durkheim, the economy is only one and non-decisive institution that interacts with others. In this respect, he differs from Marx, who gave primacy to economics. According to Durkheim, the division of labor must be eradicated to humanize society. On the contrary, a comprehensive division of labor contributes to the harmonization of society. In cases where the division of labor is underdeveloped, there is equality among people, and their individuality does not develop. Here, in Durkheim’s words, "mechanical solidarity" prevails. As the division of labor deepens, individuals become increasingly dependent on each other, resulting in "organic solidarity." Each person is interconnected, like the organs of a whole organism. This division of labor leads to both specialization and individualization. According to Durkheim, a society based on the division of labor can be both sick and healthy. The state of society depends on whether the economy operates in accordance with norms. If not, anomie arises (for example, an intensification of class struggle). Durkheim leads not backward, not to a society without a division of labor, but forward, to a harmonious society based on the division of labor. The establishment of the norms of socio-economic life necessary for the elimination of anomie will not occur through empty rhetoric or the use of state power alone. The state must have the institutions necessary for the coordinated development of the economy - corporations. In it, cooperative organizations skillfully and competently manage the economy. However, this state differs from fascist corporatism in that it assumes that corporations possess certain political independence. Durkheim (like Hegel) proposes a "social-democratic" solution. He opposes pure liberalism and the uncontrolled expansionism of Marxist radical change. Durkheim’s therapy largely adheres to the common aspects of liberalism, socialism, and Marxism, namely the political legacy of the Enlightenment, namely the ideas of development, freedom, and progress. directed oppositely. Some theorists attach great importance to these ideas. However, Durkheim considers them factors leading to the decline of society. Society, although not static, must be stable. Durkheim questioned concepts such as development and progress. If these concepts are applied to any changes, they can practically be copies of destructive anomie. For example, according to Durkheim, we should not "liberate" ourselves from everything. Perhaps, by striving for social solidarity, we can achieve social security and happiness through it. However, we do not know whether Durkheim succeeded in applying hierarchy and harmony. Currently, it is necessary to distinguish two types of social theory. In one INTERNATIONALSCIENCES, EDUCATION AND NEW LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES VOLUME 2 | ISSUE 7 | 2025 https://internationalsciences.org/ | Social Sciences and Humanities | October, 2025 28 of them, conflict is considered as the basis, in the other - harmony . In this sense, Durkheim is undoubtedly a theorist of harmony, and Marx, in relation to class society, is a theorist of conflict. The historical roots of Durkheim’s teachings were nourished by pre-Renaissance political theory - in particular, the political theories of Plato and Aristotle, which emphasized social solidarity and stability. In our time, his teachings are ecologically significant. This doctrine contributes to the sociology of a future society in a state of ecological equilibrium. When considering the relationship between the individual and society, Durkheim gives a certain priority to community and solidarity. Individuals must comply with the norms and rules that should exist in a well-functioning society. Anarchy (anomia) is an alternative to this, which ultimately does not benefit the individual. At the same time, the following question remains open. In a functioning society, in Hegel’s words, can concepts such as individuality and liberalism be guaranteed through the dialectical assimilation of the unique and universal? The problems of individuality and sociality are difficult to solve both theoretically and practically. Incidentally, this idea also applies to Hegel’s views. However, some scholars believe that Durkheim paid insufficient attention to this issue. REFERENCES: 1. “Falsafa tarixi” Gunnar Skirbek Nils Gile «ШАРҚ» НАШРИЁТ-МАТБАА AКЦИЯДОРЛИК КОМПАНИЯСИ БОШ ТАҲРИРИЯТИ ТОШКЕНТ - 2002 2. Жамият меҳнат тақсимоти тўғрисида. De la division du travail social, 1893. Emile Durkheim. 3.Социология услуби. Les Regies de la methode sociologique, 1895. Emile Durkheim. 4. Ўз жонига қасд қилиш. Le Suicide, 1897. Emile Durkheim. 5. Диний ҳаётнинг оддий шакллари. Les Formes elementaire de la religieuse, 1912. Emile Durkheim. 6. Falsafa. Philosophy. Toshkent 2006. M.A.Ahmedova.