The classical theorists-Marx, Weber, Durkheim-reflect on the dark side of modern life. Modernity had profoundly changed the way people lived and the way society was organized. Modernity sees the emergence of the middle class, it is a time when "fewer and fewer of the privileged could relax as more and more of the disadvantaged could speak" (Lemert, p.15.) In the name of progress, modernity, promising a better world (tomorrow) brings destruction-destruction of the old family and small town values (Lemert, p.27.) So there is an ambiguity: the benefits of modern life are not real yet while the familiar traditional life is destroyed.
             While some others (like Spencer) saw modernity as "a beneficent necessity", a one way street to a better world, Durkheim told the story of the 2 sides of modernity: " the official story of progress and the good society and the repressed story of destruction, loss, terror of life without meaningful traditions" (Lemert, p.28.)
             In Anomie and the Modern Division of Labor, Durkheim introduces the concept of anomie that comes with the rise of modern society. Modernization is marked by an increasing division of labor, a specialized economic activity. By becoming different from each other through their work, individuals become more different in their lives, hence a diminution of the collective conscience and the collective constraint. Individualism replaces the collective conscience. "The result is that all this sphere of collective life is, in large part, freed from the moderating action of regulation" (p.78.) He argues that with the division of labor, the economic function becomes preponderant and that the administrative, military and religious functions become less important (p.79.) Because the economic world is characterized by an absence of moral laws, and because individuals tend to spend the greatest part of their existence within that sphere, Durkheim argue...