Durkheim believed that the division of labor was essential to a
properly functioning society. Dividing the tasks that need to be done between
members allows for specialization and improved skills of each person. This is
because time, energy, and resources can be focused on one specific task per
person. As a result, the increased skills of each worker better fulfills
society’s needs, because everyone has a specific role, and together make up a
functioning system. Durkheim believed that when societies needs are met, its’
members will feel a sense of security. He specified two forms of “secure”
societies; mechanical and organic. Mechanical solidarity was more typical
pre-industrialization, because societies were smaller and relied less on the
division of labor. Because of this, people within a society were able to get to
know each other on an intimate, more personal level. On the other hand, organic
solidarity is more common to larger populations and is created through a
greater division of labor and specialization. Because of the vast number of
people, and the fact that members of society rely on each other to perform the
roles in their own life that they cannot do, relationships are less personal,
but more based on status. With this model, the collective consciousness becomes
weakened. On the extreme level, this weakened collective consciousness/
increased normlessness leads to Anomie, known as a lack of social integration
and detachment from society. Alternatively, fatalism occurs when there is an
overly strong collective consciousness and members feel a sense of restriction
and hopelessness. The novel Fight Club, as well as its cinematic remake,
demonstrates the concepts of anomie and
fatalism.
One of Fight Club’s main critiques is on the importance society
places on consumer culture. It is part of our collective consciousness that
purchasing new things is necessary. As the story sets up, you are given some
background on the main protagonist. To me, it appears that he has been
struggling with feelings of hopelessness in the form of
fatalism:
“You have a class of young strong men and women,
and they want to give their lives to something. Advertising has these people chasing
cars and clothes they don't need.
Generations have been working in jobs they hate, just so they can buy
what they don't really need. “
This particular quote resonated with me once we learned about
Durkheim. We all want to give our lives to something means that we are all
looking for a sense of solidarity and belonging. The quote implies that we have
been filling that role through the acceptance of consumer culture. We see that
the narrator realizes this, and while he may have initially felt hopeless, we
see that turn into a level of detatchment which he finds liberating rather than
confining;
“This was freedom.
Losing all hope was freedom.”
Durkheim might argue that what the narrator was experiencing is
anomie. This is exemplified in the quote stated by his alter ego, Tyler Durden;
“You are not your job. You're not how much money you have in the
bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet.
You're not your fucking khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the
world.”
Facets of society such as careers, capital, clothes and money are
all part of the collective consciousness. From a young age, we are taught that
all these things matter. Most of us first learn to get a good job and earn money
through the socialization of our parents. They teach us that everyone is meant
to do or “be” something, as in a vocational calling. In this way, we are taught
that our identity is carried out through the way in which we earn and invest
money. For the most part, the majority never questions these expectations,
within society they are viewed as fact. In the above quote, we witness Durden’s
process as he detaches himself from and rejects these social facts. When he
refers to humans as crap, I get the sense that he has denied any notion that
people are good, important, or beautiful, and by specifying “all-singing, all
dancing,” is implying that the only difference between us and waste is that we
have the self-awareness/ ego to sing and dance.
"It's only after you've lost everything, that you're free to do
anything." ~Chuck Palahniuk, Fight
Club