Durkheim, Fragmentation What an Amazing

Durkheim, Fragmentation

What an amazing situation, being able to come back over a century later and see what has happened to society since I have been gone. My name is Emile Durkheim. It appears that some people now call me the "Father of Sociology." And one of the more modern scholars, Erving Goffman, even called me "God." I am honored.

However, I have not been thrust forward into time to boast about myself, but rather to see if my beliefs on fragmentation, alienation and anomie have found validity in this new century. As a brief overview, I believe that society is the glue that holds individuals together. When society becomes fragmented, or starts breaking down and apart, there also is "anomie," or a disintegration of social norms. These norms no longer can no longer control the activities of members in society. Individuals need rules and structure to help them find their way. Without such guidance and direction, the society sees a rise in both internal and external disarray -- alienation, depression, conflict, and deviance. For example, in an economic depression, the amount of anomie, crime, suicide, and deviance increase. I see in the Great Depression people jumped out of windows when they lost all their economic worth.

What a different world it is today! It is now called "flat," because the communication systems have made someone from India be "right next door" to someone in New York City. This amazing instrument called the Internet connects people globally with a click of the button. Also, I hear that "knowledge" is the product that people sell today, rather than something that is tangible. The only way to gain that knowledge is to be strongly competitive and be ahead of everyone else. Thus, the pace of change in both the individual's daily life and in the greater scheme of things such as technology and world politics is tremendous. What has this caused?

The Conference Board website reports that in 2005, half of all Americans are satisfied with their jobs, down from nearly 60% in 1995. However, among the 50% who say they are content, only 14% say they are "very satisfied." Additional survey results show that 40% of workers feel "disconnected" (alienated?) from their employers. Two-thirds do not even identify with or feel motivated to drive their organization's business goals and objectives. A quarter of employees are just "showing up to collect a paycheck." Most important to my theories, the report also states that "Rapid technological changes, rising productivity demands and changing employee expectations have all contributed to the decline in job satisfaction."

Studies performed since I was alive and well show that job satisfaction is clearly related to how workers feel about their self-worth. When people lose their jobs or are unhappy with what they are doing, they lose self-esteem and can become depressed. (Ah, I am vindicated.)

Your studies by the Center of Disease Control have also found that stress is linked to physical and mental health, as well as decreased willingness to take on new and creative endeavors. What you call "job burnout" (I like that term, by the way) is experienced by 25 to 40% of U.S. workers due to stress. More than any time in history, employee stress is being recognized as a major drain on corporate productivity and competitiveness. Depression, one form of reacting to stress is found to be the leading occupational illness of you new 21st century. It causes more days that people are not in work and productive than any other single factor. What an astounding figure -- my mind boggles: $300 billion, or $7,500 per employee, is spent annually in America on stress-related compensation claims, decreased productivity, absenteeism, health insurance costs, direct medical expenses (almost 50% higher for workers who report stress), and employee turnover. To compensate for the loss in productivity, organizations are driving people harder to remain competitive and successful. This, naturally, increases the stress even more on the personnel. What a horrible situation. Now, job stress is even called "an epidemic."

This situation saddens me greatly. Will American society continue to break down so greatly that it can no longer be cohesive? Where people will rely only on their individual (and selfish) basic needs (as this social scientist Abraham Maslow described) without regard for the larger social issues? I read that there has been some response by individuals and organizations regarding this stress.

For example, in 2003, it was mandated that all 7,800 medical residency programs comply with new limits on work hours. Guidelines issued by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education limit resident hours to a maximum of 80 hours a week. Programs that do not comply can lose their accreditation. Federal rules for truck drivers -- the first major change since 1939 -- requires truckers to increase their time for resting from eight to ten in a 24-hour period. In most situations, the total amount of time a driver can be on duty is dropping from 15 to 14 hours (still to many, I believe). Many organizations are instituting "flex time" (another great term!), where employees can come in earlier or work later depending on their personal needs. The computer is also changing this situation. More people are working out of their homes. I hear that one of your largest and once most traditional companies, IBM, began a "Telework" program to increase job satisfaction and thus productivity. Work being done from home is everything from administrative to what you call programming (whatever that is!). IBM reports that this move has helped retain key employees, resulted in higher morale and had no significant impact on customers.