Durkheim Division of Labor

I found Emile Durkheim's theory on division of labor to be very interesting. He focuses on specialization of labor to discuss division of labor. He believed that as a society we should focus on one specific task or occupation and specialize in that. It is more important in his opinion to have individuals who are very good at a specific task and invest ourselves completely in it. If we learn to specialize in a specific task we will have people who are more focused on one specific duty instead of trying to do other tasks that take time away from what we are actually the best at. I completely agree with the way he describes this theory. I believe people in the American society try to be good at to many things in life instead of focusing on something that they have a true passion for and are very successful at. As an example many middle school or high school kids play two or more sports, if they would invest all their time into one sport they may be able to be exceptional at that sport instead of being average at two sports. This is just a minor example, but when it comes to the work force it gets much more important to be able to specialize and excel in the specific task you need to perform. I think in our society today we do have division of labor present which especially in service jobs. For example a heart surgeon is specialized to be able to operate on the heart, and a brain surgeon is specialized to operate on the brain. So clearly his theory is present and I think it is very necessary. It is not good to push people to perform to many tasks where they are overwhelmed and cant succeed at the task that is most important for them. One thing that wasn't intended of division of labor, but that I think is important is the fact that we have people working together to make a final product. I like the thought of each people performing the task they are the best at and bringing together a final product that is made by each individual specialized in their own area. One thing that Durkheim said that really stuck with me is that our conclusion is not that it is good to press specialization as far as possible, but as far as necessary. I believe that our society has used Durkheim's division of labor idea and it has helped us develop specialists in our society that we can trust. I strongly believe in division of labor and I feel it is important for each individual to fully invest themselves in something and completely give everything they can into that task.

I took a picture of an assembly line to demonstrate division of labor. Each individual in an assembly line has a specific task that they specialize in and they create a final product together.