Division of labour

How it is used

A classic theme: Durkheim's The Division of Labour in Society (1893) linked it to the shift from mechanical to organic solidarity. Feminist researchers speak of the domestic or gendered division of labour when they study who does housework and childcare.

Example sentences

1. Durkheim argued that a complex division of labour makes people depend on one another.

2. Surveys show that the domestic division of labour remains unequal in many dual-earner couples.

Common collocations

• domestic division of labour
• gendered division of labour
• international division of labour
• complex division of labour

Related terms

• functionalismA theoretical approach that sees society as a system of connected parts, each of which performs a function that helps keep the whole stable.
• anomieA condition in which the norms that guide behaviour become weak, unclear or contradictory, often during rapid social change, leaving people without direction.
• gender roleThe set of behaviours, tasks and attitudes that a society considers suitable for women or for men, usually learned through socialisation.
• capitalismAn economic system in which the means of production are mostly privately owned and goods and labour are bought and sold in markets for profit.

More terms: Social Structure and Institutions

• social structure
• social institution
• status
• social role
• power
• ascribed status
• achieved status
• bureaucracy
• social network