The Architecture of Consensus in Durkheim’s Early Political Sociology
Graciela Inda
Abstract
The object of analysis of this article is how the role of political institutions is tackled in the construction of social
consensus in the theoretical interventions made by Durkheim between 1883 and 1889 which are disregarded by
criticism. As a result of all the inquiry held, it is worth mentioning that after Durkheim’s first productive period
(18831885) ruled by questions about the capacity of the state’s mechanisms to lay the foundations of social
consensus, he gets to the conclusion (between 1886 and 1889) that said consensus is spontaneous and self
generated, where political institutions only have a secondary and derivative role in its reproduction. He starts
getting a new perspective that he would finally adopt with the passing of time.
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