Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-5lx2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-31T21:15:54.481Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - ‘The Rule-of-Law’: A Case Study

from Part II - The Form of the Collective Consciousness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2014

Get access

Summary

Before we leave the realms of what Durkheim describes as the general characteristics of the collective consciousness of society – the macro-sociological features we have considered above – and go on to look in greater detail at those other very strong, but smaller-scale or ‘individual’ characteristics which might serve this purpose, there is one other very strong macro-sociological candidate that I want to consider for inclusion under the heading of ‘rules forbidding acts contrary to the sentiments of the collectivity’ and this is one which, interestingly enough, is in fact entirely missing from Durkheim's discussion of this question in The Division of Labour. I am referring here to what Barbara Hudson (1998), calls the role of the ‘Rule-of-Law’ in society. Departing then for the moment from Durkheim's list of all possible candidates for inclusion in the collective consciousness of society (table v.1 in The Division of Labour), I want to emphasize once again how revealing it is that any discussion of this point is conspicuously lacking from Durkheim's own account of this matter, at least as outlined by him in The Division of Labour, and that the reason for this is almost certainly due to the analytical distinction that Durkheim makes between the disciplinary function in society and the collective consciousness as such. The criminal law is part of the disciplinary function of society and as such, as we have seen, it is not part of Durkheim's concept of the collective consciousness.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Anthem Press
Print publication year: 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×