Durkheim’s Structural Functionalism and the Integration of Genocide in his Sociological Framework

Durkheim’s Structural Functionalism and the Integration of Genocide in his Sociological Framework

Genocide

Anthonie Holslag

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal (GSP)

Vol. 19

No. 1

2025

International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS)

Journal article

English

19119933

Genocide

Open Access

In the theories of Durkheim which focusses mostly on consensus and equilibrium within society, genocide is a problematic phenomenon. Even though violent is not absent in his theoretical framework, it always has a function, a reason, mainly to establish cohesion in a society that is in essence divided in labor and religion. Violence for violence, excluding groups and persecuting groups for who they are is simply not studied in detail within his consensus centered sociology. So how could we study genocide within his framework? How can we start to analyze genocide through Durkheim’s glasses. How could we explain something that is so disruptive in nature. In this article I try to answer this question by looking at certain elements within his theories, but also by studying the importance of sacralization as studied and analyzed by Mauss, Hubert and in some instances Durkheim himself. Here we may find that genocide may not exist outside the mechanisms of society but may have a function within.

Edrina Adjei-Manu