涂尔干所构想的国家有着内外两方面的职能。在现代社会,对外职能,尤其是军事职能逐渐衰微,而对内职能占据了主要位置。在对内职能中,最主要的有经济职能、政治职能、法律职能。但不管是关于经济职能、政治职能的论述,还是法律职能的讨论,涂尔干都提到了职业群体,他认为唯有职业群体才能使法国真正地摆脱当时的困境,因为法国当时面临的主要问题就是国家主义与个人主义发展的不平衡:要么国家为个人所吞噬,要么个人为国家所压制,只有借助于职业群体才能实现二者的平衡。由于职业群体这一中介存在于国家与个人之间,个人与国家就不能直接接触,二者之间只有间接的关系。但是在这种情况下,又产生了一个新问题:职业群体会不会代替国家成为一种压制个人的新力量呢?如果有可能,如何来防范这一情况的出现呢?这就需要借助法律的作用,特别是在现代社会中,法律充当了职业群体与国家之间的桥梁。 Durkheim conceived of the country has both internal and external functions. In modern society, external functions, especially military functions, are gradually declining, while internal functions occupy a major position. Among the internal functions, the most important are economic functions, political functions and legal functions. However, Durkheim mentions the occupational group whether it is about economic functions, political functions or legal functions, and he believes that only the professional groups can really get France out of the difficulties at that time because of the major problems facing France at the time It is an imbalance between the development of nationalism and individualism: either the state devours an individual or the individual is suppressed by the state, and only by means of a professional group can the balance of the two be achieved. As the intermediary of occupational groups exists between countries and individuals, individuals and countries can not directly contact with each other, and there is only an indirect relationship between the two. However, under such circumstances, a new question arises again: Will the occupational group become a new force that suppresses the individual instead of the state? If so, how can we prevent this from happening? This requires the aid of laws Especially in modern societies, the law serves as a bridge between occupational groups and nations.