Sunday, February 8, 2009

Durkheim and the prison system

This essay will attempt to analyze how Durkheim might view the state prison system and how this institution might be considered a mechanical solidarity type of society.

Memo #1

This memo highlights the differences between notions of mechanical and organic solidarity, and explores how Durkheim's models of both concepts can be applied within the institutional setting of a national sorority.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Memo #1- Durkheim

Greg De Benedictis

Mechanical solidarity is solidarity based on likeness of people. He calls it mechanical because, like molecules, they are joined and connected to serve one function (84). According to Durkheim, it is made up of people with no individuality that share common norms and values. In an extreme case of mechanical solidarity, there would be no such thing as a division of labor because people would be doing the same thing, at the same time and even in the same pace. In this type of society, the collective consciousness is very strong compared to the individual consciousness. This type of solidarity has lots of repressive laws, whose goal is to punish those criminals who violate the collective consciousness. Durkheim believes that the punishment needs to be public so everyone can see what happens when a person commits a crime. It also needs to be passionate because the people would need to know how serious the crime is against the collective consciousness. Finally, it needs to be organized through legislative bodies or tribunals made by the people.
Organic solidarity is solidarity based on complementary differences. The division of labor and bonds to society are based on interdependence on other’s specialization for society. The individual consciousness is very strong against the collective consciousness. However, even though people have individual needs, they know that societal needs trump individual needs, just as Durkheim says that people are organs who work to function for the collective good of the body. This type of solidarity uses restitutive law, which restore relations back to the way it was, almost as if it never happened. In order to repair relations, there has to be sanctions organized for the division of labor, in which a criminal needs to be present. Durkheim is suggesting that the only way for solidarity to remain in society is for the state to regulate these relations, particularly economic relations. Once these contractual relations develop, non-contractual elements of contract form which underline values, consensus and trust. Only the state can create equalization of power between the different parts of society and as a result, it becomes bigger.
In the sorority I chose to observe, it seems that it definitely has a mix of both mechanical and organic solidarity. First off, the obvious the sorority are made up of women only so they share the same gender. The ladies share the same collective consciousness in regards to the principles they uphold: academics, community and sisterhood. According to the “laws” that govern the sorority, punishments for the crimes that would violate the collective consciousness depend on the severity. For example, a girl who is caught sneaking a boy into her room after hours will be disciplined by doing chores around the house and suspended visiting privileges. A girl is approached by an elder sister for a disciplinary meeting with officers and at the weekly house meeting, the president will make an announcement about the offense against the collective consciousness This is an example of a repressive law because the punishment is made public to everyone at the house meeting and it is organized by the disciplinary committee. The chapter council, which is made of sisters, plans events for the ladies, ranging from sister bonding to community outreach. Every sister must attend events unless they have a good reason. Thus, this follows the mechanical solidarity model because the ladies are supposed to do everything in unison with their sisters.
As for organic solidarity, the ladies obviously have their own individual consciousness with regard to attending other events aside from their own sorority. Some sisters are a part of different clubs on campus and play sports for various teams. Within the sorority, the girls can be a part of different groups like social committee, philanthropic committee, even a sustainability committee. Each girl works in different parts for the whole of the sorority. In this sorority, each girl comes from a different background in terms of race, class, and majors, which upholds the idea that the division of labor comes from the specialization of the individual that can contribute to the society. Finally, the “state” in this sorority would be the officers like the president, vice president, committee chairs, etc and they uphold the rules of the house and the sorority. They monitor the relations between each committee so no one committee or person is more powerful than another. Non-contractual relations are embedded within every activity and rule within the institution like trust your sisters to always be there and to honor the guiding principles of academics, community and sisterhood.

Memo #1

Friday, February 6, 2009

Durkheim's Organic Solidarity in the ASUC

This essay uses our student government, the Associate Students of the University of California, to demonstrate Durkheim's theory of organic solidarity.

Mechanical and Organic Solidarity

In this essay, I explain the differences between mechanical and organic solidarity. Then I connect the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly known as the School of the Americas, with building mechanical solidarity in Bolivia's recent history.

Durkheim's Mechanical and Organic Solidarity

In this paper I will attempt to describe Durkheim's Mechanical and Organic solidarity. Furthermore, I will also apply his definitions of organic solidarity to the institution I chose which was marriage.

MS and OS in education

In a short essay, I will describe the difference between organic and mechanical solidarity. Moreover, I will apply it to my institution which is a high school.
This essay discusses the difference between Mechanical Solidarity and Organic Solidarity and how each one of them operates in the Theater (performing arts) institutions.
The following discusses the difference in mechanical solidarity and organic solidarity. In addition, it is applied to Homeland Security

Durkheim and illegal detention centers

In my first essay, I address the differences between mechanical and organic solidarity. In the second one, I study the film “Garage Olimpo” that depicts the relationship of Maria, an activist, who is kidnapped by the military, and Felix, a military officer. Maria is captured and tortured in a detention camp and becomes dependent on Felix’s protection for survival. Meanwhile, Felix fulfills his desire through her dependency. This relationship could appear to be based on organic solidarity. However, the use of this concept in this context is limited, as it does not question power relations.

M and O Solidarity

In this essay I will compare Solidarities and apply them to my institution.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

MS vs OS

I will discuss how Organic solidarity differs from Mechanical solidarity.

Mechanical Vs. Organic Solidarity

In this essay I will discuss the differences between Durkheim's mechanical and organic solidarity and how they apply to my sorority.

Durkheim in the US education system

After addressing the differences between mechanical and organic solidarity, I examine the possible existence of each within the American education system. Specifically, these Durkheimian concepts are applied to the interaction between wealthy class and working class schools districts.

Mechanical versus Organic Solidarity and their Appearance in Public High School

This memo reveals the differences between mechanical and organic solidarity. Also it discusses how mechanical and organic solidarity operates and fails to operate in public high schools.

Durkheim, Solidarity and Teams

Durkheim describes two types of solidarity, mechanical and organic. In this memo, I look at the relation of solidarity to the sports team.

Organic and Mechanical Solidarity in Maganda Magazine

According to Emile Durkheim, mechanical solidarity is based on the likeness and a collective consciousness between individuals in a society (39). The common consciousness is described as a system of common beliefs and understanding of various aspects of a society. When the collective consciousness is damaged by an individual, the society must work to repair the damage done to the common consciousness through penal codes, or repressive law (39). In order for repressive law, or punishment to effectively restore the collective consciousness, it must be: (1) passionate, where the society is able to direct its revenge on the damage (48), (2) public, where society collectively sees the criminal act as a wrong (50), and (3) organized by the courts and magistrate so that it is clearly understood by the collective society what the consequences are of crime. Durkheim associates mechanical solidarity with repressive laws because he sees them operating in a mechanical or automatic way where “punishment is therefore established with a kind of mechanical spontaneity” (57).
On the other hand, organic solidarity is achieved through having complementary differences in a society and is the more likely form of solidarity under a society with an increasing amount of division of labor (70). This solidarity is measured through restitutive laws that are in place in order to restore the relationships built under the division of labor (68). The difference between organic solidarity and mechanical solidarity is that the former does not operate on punishment. Rather, because the dominating form of consciousness in this society is an individualistic one, restoring the common consciousness through punishment is seen as unnecessary (71).
The institution which I chose to study, Maganda Magazine, a student-run literary/arts publication and organization on campus operates with both mechanical solidarity and organic solidarity. When individuals apply to be on the staff of Maganda, there is the unwritten understanding that their individual actions (or inactions) will affect the entire staff and how society perceives the organization as a whole. On that note, if anyone does not abide by this unwritten understanding—for example, if someone was to damage the collective consciousness by stepping back from their position and responsibilities, then consequences would follow in a both a mechanical and organic way.
Since we as a staff assume that everyone has an emotional investment in the growth of the publication and arts organization, it does damage to our consciousness and emotions if we saw that someone was not as emotionally invested in the organization as everyone else is. Secondly, we would have to make it public (at least within staff) that this is an issue that needs to be handled. Lastly, we would have to solve it in an organized fashion, whether that is transferring the responsibilities from the person who stepped back to other people on staff, or collectively figuring out how this person is still accountable to the organization.
Taking this same example and looking at through an organic solidarity lens, it also necessary to restore the relationships under the division of labor. As mentioned above, staff would have to figure out how to divide the labor of person who decided to step down from their position. It would mean that the authoritative figure and “head honcho,” such as the Editor in Chief, make sure that the responsibilities of that person are getting done. This calls for constant supervision and regulation of the responsibilities and tasks. Rather than a free-for-all, I’ll-do-what-I-want attitude, the division of labor must be restored in order to produce a sufficient product at the end of the year—the magazine.

Organic Solidarity in Little House on the Prairie

Mechanical Solidarity and Little House on the Prairie

Durkheim TIA About Afterschool Tutoring Program by Me

Durkheim studies society to discover what builds social solidarity—i.e., unity of individuals—which, to him, is an unquestioned moral good (24). He claims there is a succession two types of solidarity, first mechanical and then organic solidarity. The two rely on totally different solidarity-building mechanisms and can be measured by changes in types of laws which indirectly indicate the dominant type of solidarity (28-9).
Mechanical solidarity relies on the social glue of society-wide similarities engendered by a collective consciousness. In these societies individuals are born into and hold throughout their lives beliefs and feelings that are nearly universal to the society. This society-wide state of mind and world-view is called the collective consciousness (38-9). Because everyone thinks and feels the same, they also act the same and have unity with all other individuals. The state develops out of this consciousness and thus embodies and symbolizes its essence (42-3). The state also defends the consciousness by punishing criminals, whom, in effect, attack the collective consciousness (40). This punishment acts not to reform the criminal but to deter others from such attacks (63), and so, it is conducted publicly, passionately, and is organized (55-9). Because of this deterrence effect, this system is called repressive law (29).
Conversely, organic solidarity exists in societies where each individual is more prized because society needs them to fulfill their specialized role in the collective division of labor. Since society’s productive roles are so divided, the individuals in each role become inextricably interdependent on each other (85). These interdependencies create the unity by necessity found in organic solidarity. Simultaneously, the collective consciousness is replaced by stronger individual consciousnesses (172). Thus, the type of law found in such societies, restitutive law, exists not to protect the collective consciousness but to restore relationships between individuals that have been broken (68). This law does not attempt to destroy criminals and does not make public examples of them, but attempts to re-place individuals into the unity of division of labor.
In my institution, a child tutoring program, organic solidarity is most apparent in the division of labor between students and tutors. Students depend on tutors to teach them, and tutors depend on the students to learn from them. This interdependency creates the solidarity that the program survives on. Still, this solidarity is not guaranteed and restitutive-like rules exist. Most commonly, students are given detention if they have behavioral issues, such as not staying on task, or do not fill out their assignment log completely. Both problems disrupt their ability to be a student, and the punishment applies pressure for them to return to their student role. Conversely, if tutors fail to show up for work or are unprepared, they are reprimanded but then given several opportunities to return to the tutor role.
Mechanical solidarity, meanwhile, is most pronounced in the students. When in their role as students they exhibit remarkably similar ideas. All protest at some point about having to attend after-school and weekend tutorials. But despite these protestations, they all do attend and, for the most part, work diligently without constant supervision or threat of punishment. Punishment does, however, exist and is handed down by the tutor/adult group. This group can be seen as the state, since it embodies the children’s desire to learn and will punish deviations as attacks on this collective desire to learn. This is even true when those attacks are not seen as hostile (43), but instead—as they so commonly are—as disconnected comical outbursts that receive overblown repression. A perfect example of this is when a child was caught writing on art publicly displayed on a wall. This defacement of art, whose creators daily walked by, threatened the sanctity of well-performed learning. The leadership team then required him to erase all his marks during crowded tutorial hours. Many people—including myself—asked him what had transpired. Thus, this punishment was very publicly displayed and, so, understood by the general population; it evoked passion since each creator could see their defacer; and it was organized by the “state.” Finally, it drew the student out of his role as student for the time of the punishment, showing the “state” was not at all interested in restoring him to that specialized role.

Durkheim, Solidarity, and the Men’s Story Project

Abstract: Mechanical and organic solidarity differ from one another in five fundamental ways: how solidarity binds people, individuals' links to society, the relative importance of the collective versus individual consciousness, the dominant form of law, and the role of the state. The Men's Story Project came together through mechanical solidarity and became effective through organic solidarity. The challenge for the future is creating and increasing solidarity with new project members and potential audiences. This change will by necessity not be a revolution; it will happen one step at a time.

See first comment for the full essay.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Daschle, Obama, and the thousand threads?

Check out this article in the Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/us/politics/02daschle.html?ref=politics

Support for Lenin's thesis that any change of goverment leadership won't effect the thousand threads connecting the state to the capitalist class?