Mechanical solidarity, as I said before existed before the industrial revolution. It exists in smaller societies and it is based on similarities. The type of similarities that it is based on is the similarities in work and between the people of that society. Since no skill is specialized everyone in the society can do a bit of everything, and that is how the people of that society can relate to each other. They work in groups not alone. Also all of the people of that society have intimate social contact with one another, this means; they are all friends. Organic solidarity on the other hand exists after the industrial revolution and in this type of solidarity there is a lot of differentiation. All the people of the society play a different role. This means that in organic solidarity the people of that society have specialized skills. Also, in organic solidarity, society is less personal and all the relationships between one another are all based on roles. This means that people interact with each other on a “business level.” They have special roles with each other and they only interact with one another based on those roles.
Now that we know the difference between mechanical and organic solidarity, we can focus on mechanical solidarity and how it still exists today in our society even though we are industrial now. I believe that even though we are an industrial society there are still many types of work that have a mechanical solidarity. For example, I work at a coffee shop and although our specialization is technically coffee, we do not only carry coffee. We also carry teas, sandwiches, and pastries. We do not only make coffee, but we also make espresso drinks, smoothies, milkshakes, and tea lattes. I believe that like in mechanical solidarity the emphasis is on all the employees’ not just one. We all switch off because all of us know how to make coffee, teas, smoothies, and milkshakes. We can all move around and make different things. We are not assigned only one station. I also believe that although we are in the industrialized society we still keep and intimate relationship with our customers. A lot of the regular customers know my name, my son’s name, where I live, what I’m studying, and they frequently ask questions about my personal well being. I am actually friends with some the customers outside of our “customer” and “barista” roles.
I believe that my job is an example of how mechanical solidarity still exists today. Also, it does not only exist at my job but at many other places of business. People still keep a personal relationship with their customers and people don’t just keep the “customer” and “employee” role. Most places also don’t turn their business into n “assembly line” where everyone only knows how to do one specific task. Most employees know how to do every task at their work place not just one specific task. If they did not have a personal relationship with their customers and kept it strictly “business” and if employees only knew how to do only one specific task then it would be organic solidarity. However, since most places are not like this, I believe much mechanical solidarity still exists in our society today.