📙 2012 Reprint of 1933 Edition. Exact facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Although the concept of "division of labor" appears in social thought as early as Plato, and is crucial in the work of Adam Smith, Comte, Marx and Spencer, there can be no doubt that modern sociological interest in the division of labor begins with Durkheim. It is the concept that is most firmly associated with his name and remains a classic work to this day.