ABSTRACT
Emile Durkheim has provided the best sociological analysis of the nature of moral rules and of the changes they undergo, along with the social and technological changes that accompany the rise of civilization. These rules have many functions for the various groups and individuals that compose a society. In the more complex society, strategic elites express not only the common moral sentiments of the collectivity but also its differentiated aspects, providing simultaneously an image of social unity and social diversity. Moral obligation to ultimate ends, however, is the duty of strategic elites. Durkheim’s observation that functional “diversity induces a moral diversity that nothing can prevent” has been elaborated and applied to the rise of strategic elites. The moral problems brought to the fore as differentiation among strategic elites increases are similar to those of earlier epochs. In modern industrial societies, each strategic elite represents both the common moral framework and a particular functional sphere.
