Sociology of the Anarchists - Gozips.uakron.edu - The University of ...

CrimethInc 29 , and interacted more with the general population, they would find that they
need to make anarchism a mainstream idea/tendency, not a separatist one. For further
examples of “no compromise” with Earth First! see Lange (1990).
Functionalism/Durkheimian
The notion of a collective conscience is central to Emile Durkheim's writing, a form of
“pre-contracted solidarity”. Durkheim uses, for instance, the work of Rousseau and his
idea of a “general will” to understand solidarity and non-economic interests. Rousseau
believed that society could be advanced by people talking out their differences, finding
common ground, and thus uniting. Although this is considered a bit naïve by anarchists—
those in power are not willing to discuss lessening their powers unless they are somehow
endowed with altruism or are up against a wall—it still has relevance to the general
optimism of anarchists that humans can generally be trusted to understand the problems
of the world given the proper information to do so. Flowing from Rousseau's general will
would be the idea and method of “consensus decision making”, which most anarchist
affinity groups and collectives operate on. Consensus can be seen as the synthesis of both
self-determination and solidarity, since once a general will (a common goal or politic) is
accepted by a group of people, a non-hierarchical way is considered best to overcome
differences in solving problems.
Another sizable French influence upon Durkheim was Montesquieu, who emphasized the
inter-connectedness of all social phenomena: social, economic, religious, political, etc.
This view is very compatible with anarchism, which also sees all sectors of modern
society as interlocking institutions which either reinforce each other or can be modified to
work against each other. For instance, anarchist believe the equalization of economic
standing will bring greater political equality. The more fair our political institutions deal
with the issues of race, gender, and sexuality the more fairly cultural and social
institutions will reflect. And so on. (An artistic rendition of this idea can be seen in the
poster created by the Federation of Revolutionary Anarchist Collectives (FRAC-GL)
which shows a brick being thrown into a system of gears bearing the following labels:
war, capitalism, fascism, white supremacy, government, patriarchy, and homophobia.
[Insert graphic of this poster as a “figure”?] )
Herbert Spencer's monograph “The Social Organism” contrasted human societies with
living organisms (the “organic analogy”) and greatly influenced Durkheim. The
similarities to Kropotkin's “Mutual Aid” study should not be lost: Kropotkin
demonstrated how mutual aid tendency ran through animal species and through various
stages of human societies. Durkheim differs with Spencer in that he rejects the idea of
“contractual solidarity”. Anarchists also echo this sentiment, saying that there is a deeper
basis of society than a “market system”, one based upon morality. Durkheim says precontractual
solidarity comes from trust. Even where there is no immediate trust between
people (people who do not even know each other), anarchists suggest that there can be
and often cases is a good will between people.
29 For a critical review of CrimethInc (2000), see Ryan (2004).
[ Williams 29 ] [ this is a draft. do not cite. ]