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Conscience Collective or False Consciousness?

Adorno’s Critique of Durkheim’s Sociology of Morals

Centre for Ethics and Law, Denmark

When Durkheim’s Sociologie et philosophie was first translated into German in 1967, Adorno wrote a critical introduction to the book. This article first presents the main thoughts in Durkheim’s sociology of morals - that is, his concept of societally instituted morality as a reality sui generis that must be obeyed because the state of society constitutes a ‘reason’ beyond that of the individual. The article then presents Adorno’s critique of Durkheim. Departing from a general critique of Durkheim’s disregard for individuality in establishing obligatory social morality, Adorno utilizes the Marxian concepts of ‘second nature’, ‘continued natural history’ and true and false consciousness to show how Durkheim’s concept of conscience collective is merely expressive of what society ‘believes itself to be’. In conclusion, the article demonstrates how the respective positions of Durkheim and Adorno may serve as each other’s correctives.

Key Words: Adorno • Critical Theory • Durkheim • Frankfurt School • ideology • Marx • morality • practical philosophy • sociology

Journal of Classical Sociology, Vol. 6, No. 2, 215-237 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1468795X06064862


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