The division of labour is the specialization of cooperating individuals who perform specific tasks and roles. In his seminal work, The Division of Labour in Society (1893), Émile Durkheim observes that the division of labour appears in all societies and positively correlates with societal advancement because it increases as a society progresses. Durkheim hypothesized that the division of labour fosters social solidarity, yielding "a wholly moral phenomenon" that ensures "mutual relationships" among individuals. Durkheim rejects the earlier purely economic interpretation of DoL and applies it as a phenomenon having ramification for entire society. Increased specialization in economic sphere is consquence of social differentiation. He probes relationship between DoL and the manner in which social solidarity comes about and divides society into two categories. Mechanical solidarity society is one where a sense of unity resulting from individuals engaging in similar work who hold shared backgrounds, traditions, and values. DoL is based on ascriptive criteria such as sex, age etc. In such societies conscience collective is very strong but laws are repressive and penal in character. On the other hand, in organic solidarity society individuals engage in different kinds of work that benefit society and other individuals. Durkheim believes that organic solidarity prevails in more advanced societies, while mechanical solidarity typifies less developed societies. Similarly, Durkheim opines that in societies with more organic solidary, the diversity of occupations is greater, and individuals depend on each other more, resulting in greater benefits to society as a whole.
Marx argued that increasing the specialization may also lead to workers with poorer overall skills and a lack of enthusiasm for their work. He described the process as alienation: workers become more and more specialized and work becomes repetitive, eventually leading to complete alienation from the process of production. The worker then becomes "depressed spiritually and physically to the condition of a machine". Additionally, Marx argued that division of labour creates less-skilled workers. As the work becomes more specialized, less training is needed for each specific job, and the workforce, overall, is less skilled than if one worker did one job entirely. Among Marx's theoretical contributions is his sharp distinction between the economic and the social division of labour. That is, some forms of labour co-operation are purely due to "technical necessity", but others are a result of a "social control" function related to a class and status hierarchy. If these two divisions are conflated, it might appear as though the existing division of labour is technically inevitable and immutable, rather than (in good part) socially constructed and influenced by power relationships. He also argues that in a communist society, the division of labour is transcended, meaning that balanced human development occurs where people fully express their nature in the variety of creative work that they do.
