Émile Durkheim and the Collective Consciousness of Society

Download or read book Émile Durkheim and the Collective Consciousness of Society written by Kenneth SmithKenneth Smith and published by Anthem Press. This book was released on 2014-08-01 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume sets out to explore the use of Émile Durkheim’s concept of the ‘collective consciousness of society’, and represents the first ever book-length treatment of this underexplored topic. Operating from both a criminological and sociological perspective, Kenneth Smith argues that Durkheim’s original concept must be sensitively revised and suitably updated for its real relevance to come to the fore. Major adjustments to Durkheim’s concept of the collective consciousness include Smith’s compelling arguments that the model does not apply to everyone equally, and that Durkheim’s concept does not in any way rely on what might be called the disciplinary functions of society.