Sur le caractère “composé” du social: le concept de composition chez Durkheim et Mauss

Abstract

This article puts forward an analysis of the concept of composition in the writings of French sociologists Émile Durkheim and Marcel Mauss. Despite the fact that “composition”, just like the terms that are linked to it, is not the central one in the terminology of those authors, a study of its occurrences and its functions allows to throw a new light upon their work. Such a study shows, in the first place, that the notion of society developed by the Durkheimian school supposes an articulated and open ensemble, not a homogeneous mass: every society, according to Durkheim and Mauss, is f ormed by subgroups; every society is a “society of societies”. In the second place, such a study turns visible the position adopted by the Durkheimians during the debate –one that was important back in their time– on the origin and the development of the European societies. On this issue, Mauss, under the inspiration of Durkheim, carried out a profound analysis to the way in which societies get transformed: it is essential that sociology takes into account not only the endogenous changes (densification, differentiation, etc.), but also the modifications produced by the relations and articulations with other societies –these relations, which are frequently affected by conflict, lead into compositions that may go from ephemeral alliance to complete fusion–.