Discussion Question - Essay Example

I agree in that crime is a normal part of our society now. As per Durkheim, we are living in an organic society and, again as per Durkheim, crime herein is often an expression of individual originality on the part of the criminal. There is an ever increasing presence of crime around us, and we only have to turn on the television to prove it; whether it is newscasts or entertainment channels, crime is ever present. Perhaps it even fascinates us, and maybe that explains not only the solution based remedies pointed out by the poster above, but also the prevalence of police and crime based entertainment programmes on the media.

I agree, also, that it would be an anomaly in these days to not hear about crime on the news for a whole week; for some societies it is a daily occurrence. However, I disagree with one aspect of the post; Durkheim’s theory regarding a mechanical society holds true. We have only to look at the less advanced countries in the world to realise that it is an ever present reality; a collective conscience is not only produced, but is maintained in such societies with little to no digression allowed and tolerated – perhaps a good example in this regard would be the Nazis and the Taliban; they enforced, and in the latter case still enforce, their self created laws to not only maintain a homogeny or uniformity of the members of their society, but in the process also create a society which does not tolerate deviation from the norms.

Mechanical societies, therefore, are as much a reality today as they were yesterday, however, there is a trend, as Durkheim stated, for mechanical societies to progress into organic societies.