The division of labour is not of recent origin, but it was only at the end of the eighteenth century that social cognizance was taken of the principl… - Émile Durkheim

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The division of labour is not of recent origin, but it was only at the end of the eighteenth century that social cognizance was taken of the principle. though, until then, unwitting submission had been rendered to it. To be sure, several thinkers from earliest times saw its importance; but Adam Smith was the first to attempt a theory of it. Moreover, he adopted this phrase that social science later lent to biology.