Final answer:
Émile Durkheim considered crime and deviance necessary for society, serving to affirm societal norms and collective conscience. His concept of social facts underlines the external forces shaping social order, and he discussed how society's complexity affects laws and punishments.
Step-by-step explanation:
Émile Durkheim, a prominent sociologist, spoke extensively about the role of crime in society. Durkheim likened society to a living organism, suggesting that each part, including the deviant behavior, plays an essential role. He proposed that crime and punishment serve a function by affirming societal norms and the collective conscience, which are society's shared beliefs and values. Deviance, according to Durkheim, is necessary as it presents opportunities to challenge and hence strengthen the current social order.
Moreover, this notion extends to the laws, which Durkheim saw as reflections of the collective conscience. Societies that are more complex and have a more intricate division of labor tend to have milder punishments compared to smaller, more homogenous societies. This viewpoint is based on the understanding that in larger societies, the interdependence among individuals plays a crucial role in maintaining social order. Social facts, as labeled by Durkheim, are forces that exist outside of the individual and have real influence on society.
In terms of societal evolution, Durkheim noted a transition from mechanical solidarity in simple societies to organic solidarity in complex ones. He underscored the importance of common values and beliefs to maintain social cohesion and prevent a state of anomie, which he associated with a lack of social norms leading to fragmentation of social identity.