French influence
The Division of Labor in Society was Emile Durkheim's doctoral dissertation. In it, Durkheim is inspired by Adam Smith's work who sees the evolution of societies is closely linked to the gradual increase in the division of labor.
Collectivist approach
The French collectivist tradition heavily influenced the book through thinkers such as Montesquieu and Rousseau. The focus of the methodological collectivist is to investigate the consciousness of a society by looking at more than merely the sum of all individual consciousnesses.
Human nature
While most of his work is influenced by important French thinkers, Durkheim's view of human nature is closer to Thomas Hobbes's perspective. For Hobbes, human nature is inherently dangerous without a proper mechanism to control and contain the evil part of man (*Homo homini lupus).*
Invisible societal glue
Durkheim and Max Weber are some of the first "modern" sociologists. The main differences between the work of the two are that the latter was interested in what divides societies while the former was interested in what keeps societies together.
Solidarity
Like any other social scientist, Emile Durkheim has an ontology for the evolution of societies that revolves around two types of solidarities: mechanical and organic. Mechanical solidarity is present in pre-capitalist formations, while organic solidarity is present in modern societies where capitalism is the dominating economic force.
Mechanical solidarity looks at solidarity as the matter that keeps pre-modern societies together based on similarities. On the other hand, organic solidarity looks at the matter that keeps modern societies together based on the differences between people. The fundamental difference here is that societies that function on organic solidarity cannot work if certain functions are not fulfilled (similar to how a body cannot work without a beating heart or functioning liver). At the same time, societies based on mechanical solidarity can function even if certain functions are not satisfied (like a mechanical process missing a very insignificant screw and continuing to function without).
Anomie
Similar to Marx's alienation and Weber's disenchantment, Durkheim uses the term "anomie" to describe the problems arising from the transition from mechanical solidarity to organic solidarity (or from primitive to modern societies).
Echoing Nietzsche's "On Genealogy of Morality," Durkheim struggles to define a universal and objective definition of "good" and "bad" to be able to investigate "anomie" in a scientific way.
The historical backdrop of the concept of "anomie" comes from Durkheim's observation of the peasants moving to Paris in the late 19th and early 20th century that were corrupted by the vice-ridden capitals where "social pathologies" flourished, such as alcoholism, homelessness, prostitution, and crime.
The way that societal pathologies tend to flourish in societies is by a lack of regulations (peasants moving to cities abundant in vices) or the existence of too much regulation (a forced division of labor).
Law
For Durkheim, the best way to investigate the collective consciousness is by looking at the laws of a society, which are often the only objective measure social scientists have at their disposal.