Social integration is the process or situation where groups of people are incroporated into a society. Emile Durkheim stated that social integration is created through the <u>values, beliefs, customs, and experiences that people share which make up a collective consciousness, a crucial concept that gathers people together.</u>
Durkheim proposed different types of social integration that were based on solidarity:
Mechanical solidarity: the similarities that people share hold them together in a society.
Organic solidarity: people depend on each other for the division of labor.
These concepts are fundamental for a society to work. The absence of social integration, also known as anomie, would lead to conflict and social disconnection.
