Reorganization and Stabilization

Abstract

The consequences of economic globalization have created a new interest in ¥Emile Durkheim’s conception of an institutional and moral reorganization of modern society that he developed in Professional Ethics and Civic Morals. Contrary to existing attempts to explain these political processes towards democratization, this article argues for a causal analysis of social change and concentrates on the social mechanisms that trigger the reorganization process of modern society. Two theses are entertained. The first thesis argues that the programme of an institutional and moral reorganization of modern society can be reanalysed as a causal process of democratization. This process takes two steps. While social mechanisms of reorganization bring about the institutional and moral reorganization of modern society, social mechanisms of stabilizationguarantee the functioning of the emerging democratic system. Further, the second thesis argues that this kind of explanation can be applied to Durkheim’s vision of a European confederation. The analysis reveals that his idea of a ‘post-national’ constellation refers to crucial problems of the recent debate regarding a democratic deficit in the European Union, and it shows that Durkheim’s contribution to both political sociology and historicalcomparative research has been misconceived and prematurely repudiated.