THE ORGANIC CONCEPT OF SOCIETY 14 1 



society whereas the latter violates those sentiments held so 

 generally and so strongly that the group reacts as a unit. He 

 shows that crime cannot be explained wholly on the basis of 

 disutility because many acts are tolerated which are far more 

 disuseful than many which are regarded as crimes; yet his dis- 

 cussion shows that the principle of utility is after all of great 

 importance. 1 



The social reaction expressed in repressive right is called 

 mechanical for it corresponds to the instinctive reactions of 

 biological organisms against irritants. The object of the reaction 

 is to be free from the irritant, and on the whole the reaction of 

 society against crime, though largely instinctive and irrational, is 

 useful. 2 This mechanical solidarity expressed in repressive right 

 is especially characteristic of primitive societies, the determina- 

 tion of crime and punishment among higher societies having a 

 more rational basis, 3 though even here the function of punish- 

 ment is to conserve the feeling of social solidarity rather than 

 reform the criminal. 4 " Every strong state of consciousness," he 

 says, " is a source of life; it is an essential factor of our general 

 vitality. As a result, everything which tends to weaken it 

 diminishes and depresses us. . . . It is inevitable then that we 

 should react vigorously against any cause which threatens such 

 diminution; that we arouse ourselves to remove it in order that 

 we may maintain the integrity of consciousness." 5 This is as 

 true of social as of individual consciousness. 6 



Durkheim explains the quasi-religious character of criminal 

 procedure (le droit penal) as due to the fact that the sentiment of 

 vengeance expressed in passional reaction against the criminal is 

 felt by each member of society yet not as a sentiment having 

 personal origin or reference but rather as an echo of something 



1 No one asserts that the social struggle is so keen as to eliminate everything 

 disuseful; yet on the whole and in the long run social consciousness is able to 

 determine and does determine the socially disuseful and the society that fails to 

 determine its crimes on this basis is on the road to destruction. Cf . Hall, Crime 

 in its Relation to Social Progress. This seems to be Durkheim's position. Cf. 

 De la Division du Travail Social, pp. 87 f., 114 f. 



2 Ibid., pp. 89 ff. 3 Ibid., pp. 91 f. * Ibid., pp. 94 f. 

 6 Ibid., p. 103. 6 Ibid., pp. 109, 114. 



