ABSTRACT
Most humans grow up in family groups of some sort and therefore get basic training in working together, sharing, and identifying as a member of a collective with a group identity. This capacity to belong seems very basic to many, a "natural" characteristic of the species. The social exchange theory used by game theorists tries to show that individual maximizing leads people to form social groups as a rational solution to real-world economic problems. Emile Durkheim, a French author and professor, is a principal founding figure for social science. He combines some of the threads of nineteenth-century thought in new ways, but he belongs firmly in the conservative tradition. He portrayed social life as a constant interplay between the individual, private, and everyday world and the sacred and timeless traditions of society. In Durkheim's version of social evolution, the opposite poles are societies dominated by mechanical solidarity at one extreme and those dominated by organic solidarity at the other.
