ABSTRACT
De la division du travail social, Emile Durkheim's doctoral thesis, is his first major book; it is also the one in which the influence of Auguste Comte is most obvious. The theme of Durkheimian thought, and consequently the theme of this first book, is the relation between individuals and the collectivity. Mechanical solidarity is, to use Durkheim's language, a solidarity of resemblance. The major characteristic of a society in which mechanical solidarity prevails is that the individuals differ from one another as little as possible. In Durkheim's thought, the two forms of solidarity correspond to two extreme forms of social organization. The opposition between these two forms of solidarity is combined with the opposition between segmental societies and societies characterized by modern division of labor. In Durkheim's terminology, a segment designates a social group into which the individuals are tightly incorporated. But a segment is also a group locally situated, relatively isolated from others, which leads its own life.
