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Changing Definitions of Politics and Power 17

concern with harmony between members of society rather than confl ict
(see Cladis, 2005 ). Durkheim also seems to have something in common
with elite theorists of democracy insofar as he sees “ certain personages
or classes in society ” employed in the state as particularly well suited to
interpret society ’ s moral consciousness on behalf of everyone else (Parkin,
1992 : 39).
Insofar as he regarded a high degree of substantive equality to be abso-
lutely essential to well - functioning modern societies, Durkheim was not
as conservative as he is often seen (Turner, 1992 ). It is in the more fun-
damental aspects of Durkheimian sociology that we see his conservatism.
Despite his proposals for democratic reform, Durkheim ’ s conceptualiza-
tion of society actually has no place for politics at all. For Durkheim,
social conflicts are inherently pathological, because he makes no allow-

ance for valid disagreements over the interpretation of “ collective repre-
sentations ” : not only must there be consensus on cultural norms for
society to work harmoniously, to be morally healthy, but the right norms

for a particular form of society are identifiable by the sociologist. The
social conflict Marx and Weber see as intrinsic to modern societies,

Durkheim sees as “ pathological, ” at best a result of difficult transition to

a properly functioning new society in which the science of sociology,
which Durkheim saw himself as discovering, has a special legislative role.
There is no place for politics in Durkheim ’ s sociology, only for scientifi -
cally informed social reform; politics is contingent and partial, fundamen-
tally unnecessary to a properly functioning society, and actually inherently
immoral.

N eo - D urkheimian p olitical s ociology
Neo - Durkheimian political sociology is inspired by Durkheim ’ s work on
the importance of collective representations as both constraining and
enabling, and the way in which they are reinforced and elaborated in
rituals, performances, and solidaristic passions. This work takes
Durkheim ’ s problematic of the moral basis of social cohesion as its object
of study, and especially the cultural conditions of democracy and social
justice. Where the optimism of Durkheimian functionalism ultimately
denies the importance of politics (as Lukes puts it, in his early work at
least, Durkheim tends to assume “ an identity between the ‘ normal, ’ the
ideal, and the about - to - happen ” [Lukes, 1973 : 177]), neo - Durkheimian
studies focus on the diffi culties of achieving and maintaining solidarity,
and on the way in which the very definitions of social justice may be

expanded in complex contemporary societies.