Social Morphology and Human Ecology

This essay re-examines Durkheim's Division of Labor from the standpoint of contemporary ecological theory. Durkheim's analysis of differentiation is reconstructed, and a series of criticisms of the work are reviewed. A number of striking parallels are found between Durkheim's "morphological" thinking and the structural concepts and analytical apparatus in use within human ecology throughout its development. The paper ends with a plea for greater attention to the construction of structural taxonomies and to the examination of other morphological problems.