Durkheim's Analysis of the Division of Labor (2)

Psychological Isolation.
Durkheim went on to show how the growth of the division of labor increases the dependence of each specialized person on the rest, but this does not mean that such increasing heterogeneity leads to consensus of thought. On the contrary:"Each individual is more and more aquiring his own way of thinking and acting, and submits less completely to the common corporate union." Thus, while in one sense highly specialized persons are locked into a web of functiona dependency upon others, they are at the same time isolated in a psychological sense as soeciaizations lead them to develop greater and greater individuality.
Durkheim also noted that the evolution of society to a more complex form leads to an increase in social relationships of much the same type that Tonnies called Gesellschaft:"It is quite true that contractual reations, which were originally rare or conpletely absent, multiply as social labor becomes divided." Thus, an increase in the division of labor has the result not only of increasing individual heterogeneity, but of introducing an increasing number of more formal and segmental relationships between people.
Anomie
Finally, Durkheim saw that under some circumstances, the division of labor could result in what he called "pathological forms." "Though normally," he said, "the division of labor produces social solidarity, it sometimes happens that ithas different, and even contrary results." If social function, that is, parts of the organic solodarity can break down. Commercial crises, depressions, strife between labor and management, civil upheavles, riots, demonstrations, and protests by subgroups offer various examples.
Thus, the very division of labor that produces harmony up to a point contains the seeds of social disharmony if pushed beyond a certain point. This, of course, was the thesis of Auguste Comte. Such a state of disharmony Durkheim called anomie. This is a pathology of the social organism that results when the division of labor becomes elaborated to a point where individuals are not capable of effectively relating themselves to others.
In short, as society becomes more and more complex-as the memebrs of the society become more and more preoccupied with their own individual pursuits and development-they lose ability to identify with and feel themselves in community with others. Eventually they become a collectivity of psychologically isolated individuals, interacting with one another but oriented inward, and bound together primarily through contractual ties.

------Chapter "Mass Society and The Magic Bullet Theory" from "The Effect of Mass Communication"