ABSTRACT
Durkheim’s (1858-1917) sociological theories, notably those which deal with the division of labour, suicide, and the elementary forms of religious life, are occupied by an obsessive question, close to the classic Hobbesian question about social
order, reformulated in a new manner: by what mechanisms are individuals integrated into society? Under what conditions are their activities compatible with the maintenance of a coherent social order? Under what conditions do they feel solidarity one to the other? Under what conditions and by what mechanism is the autonomy of the individual compatible with the existence of a social order?
