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My sincerest apologies if what I'm about to do is completely unintelligible. Reading Wolfram, the class discussion last Monday and some other random stuff has put this idea in my head, and I'm willing to let it out.

Durkheim in his book The Division of Labor in Society attempts to explain social order in terms of "mechanical" and "organic" solidarity. Mechanical solidarity stems from members of a society being raised in and part of the same social world; from being a part of the collective conscience, which provides our basic world view and set of moral values. Principles that are a part of the collective conscience are obligations because they are both internally (to the individual) and externally (to the society) legitimated.

More interestingly, organic solidarity is the force of social cohesion that stems from the division of labor. This is where things get interesting.

According to modern economic theory, the division of labor is the major force holding capitalist societies together. We are each individually aware that we are dependent on other people to produce what we cannot. This is problematic because in a world of instrumentally rational individuals we are all in a constant state of calculation. Is it good for me to follow this law? To keep this contract? Because people are held together only by dependence and because they all seek to maximize their ends, we are left in an Hobbesian state of war.

Organic solidarity builds on the cohesion of the division of labor by incorporating some of the benefits of mechanical solidarity. (It is important to note that mechanical solidarity wanes as organic solidarity waxes; as we all become more specialized and different, we have fewer shared experiences to hold us together.) Organic solidarity supposes there are rules that govern the way each group in the division of labor interacts with other groups. It also requires that each actor be in a state of calculation, determining what rules have sanctions severe enough to be worth avoiding. However, these rules may become obligations if they are integrated into the collective conscience, thereby avoiding an Hobbesian state of war and allowing our societies to remain cohesive even as we become increasingly different from one another.

Emergence becomes a factor because prior to industrialization, to an advanced division of labor, organic solidarity does not exist. After industrialization, an increasingly complicated set of rules for social interaction must develop to mirror the growth of possible occupations. No longer is everyone a farmer, artisan, soldier or aristocrat. A system emerged, without a conductor, to accommodate an exponentially larger number of social roles.

My point is this: from the practically complex but conceptually simple division of labor (If we all get really good at doing one job, we'll all do our job efficiently and not have to do everyone elses!) arose organic solidarity, an exceptionally complex system of rules for social relationships. For me, this system of rules is too complex to sit well alongside emergence if they are to be understood as governing human social behavior. It is for this reason that mechanical solidarity (despite what Durkheim might think and completely in keeping with the theories of Prof. Mark Gould) remains vital to the theory. The rules contained in organic solidarity only transition from being a part of the social situation against which an actor calculates and maximizes when they are become internalized as conditions of social action because they are legitimated by mechanical solidarity. More cogently, our social behavior is governed by a socially defined sense of morality as it applies to an emergent set of rules for social interaction.

My goal here is to show the value of emergence in social theory by highlighting the way in which simple rules (in this case the morals of mechanical solidarity) can create complex patterns of behavior based on a social situation (organic solidarity). I find it incredibly interesting that in this model, organic solidarity embodies elements of both the social situation or environment and the rules or norms which govern behavior.

Is this really related to emergence? I'd like to think so. The structure of this theory really steps away from the complex, mathematically oriented methods of psychology and economics towards a theory based on simple rules creating complex patterns. Much like the development of computational models for flocking birds or traffic jams, it provides a theory that appears to explain some phenomenon but with effort may be possible to disprove.

Hopefully this made some sense to someone? Do people agree this is related to emergence? Disagree? I'd be happy to respond to any questions or comments.