This conversation was scripted by McKenzie Bell, Emma Zschunke, Eric Hatcher, and Jamie Lee.
[scene: lobby at Hull House]
Durkheim: Hello, Jane! I have come here to the Hull House. What is something that really concerns you, that you witness here?
Addams: Well, the working conditions have really been brought to my attention. I've learned to know many families in which the working children contribute to the support of their parents, not only because they speak English better than the older immigrants and are willing to take lower wages, but because their parents have gradually found it easy to live upon their earnings!
Durkheim: Do you see that as a consequence of the division of labor? The market is becoming so extensive, creating this large-scale industry. The effect of it is to transform the relationship between employers and workers.
Addams: I'd say so. We're actually trying to create some reform right now with the child-labor laws.
Durkheim: I can see the need for that. If the division of labor does not produce solidarity it is because the relationships between the organs are not regulated. This instability could seriously affect citizens' lives, and the lives of families, as you have seen.
