Durkheim and Law in the Modern Society

Paper Summary:

This essay explores the validity of Alan Hunt's quotation, "Law is the vehicle which modern society worships itself" with regard to Emile Durkheim's analysis of the differing role of crime and punishment and the role they are thought to have played in ancient and modern societies. The paper makes the analysis in an attempt to identify whether Alan Hunt's quotation is an accurate reflection of Durkheim's theory.

From the Paper:

"Thus modern society realises the importance of themselves as an individual and therefore others as individuals. Thus, this idea of the individual relating to another individual suggests the ability for the individual of modern society to more closely identify and therefore be more considerate towards other individuals. Laws are therefore established to protect each individual even though the individual may not directly identify with such a law. For example, if individualism did not exist, as most of the Members of Parliament are white, they would has no regard for the difficulties ethnic minorities face in England, and might therefore have dismissed the law. Individualism enables awareness and empathy for other individuals, thus ensuring that law is the vehicle which enables modern society to 'worship' itself (as in each individual person) rather than worshipping a deity which leads to the 'conscience collective' attacking those who blaspheme against it without constraint due to the fact that they cannot directly relate to the deity they seek to defend."

Sample of Sources Used:

• David GARLAND, 'Punishment and Modern Society: The Work of Emile Durkheim' in D. Garland, Punishment and Modern Society (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990) 46.
• Roger COTTERRELL, 'Moral Foundations of Modern Law' in R. Cotterrell, Durkheim: Law in a Moral Domain (Stanford: Stanford University Press/ Edinburgh: Edinburgh Unversity Press, 1999) pp. 103-118.
• R. Cotterrell, Emile Durkheim: Law in a Moral Domain, above, see generally
• E. Durkheim, 'Two Laws of Penal Evolution' in M. Gane ed, The Radical Sociology Durkheim and Mauss (London: Routledge, 1992) pp. 21-49
• A. Hunt, The Sociological Movement in Law (London: Macmillan, 1978) ch 4.

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