Chapter 3: Emile Durkheim(1858-1917)
Biography (1858-1917)
Was born on April 15,1858, in Epinal, France.
He had largely Disavowed his heritage
His lifelong interest in religion was more academic than theological
Literary and aesthetic matters vs scientific methods and in moral principles
needed to guide social life.
Rejected a traditional academic career in philosophy and sought instead to
acquire the scientific training needed to contribute to the moral guidance of
society
There was no field of sociology at that time
1882 to 1887 – he taught philosophy in different provincial schools in Paris
Biography (1858-1917)
Appetite for science and trip to Germany – scientific psychology being pioneered
by Wilhelm Wundt – published a good deal on his experience
Position in the department of philosophy at the University of Bordeaux in 1887
First course in Social science in a French university – impressive accomplishment
Moral education to schoolteachers – an effort to help reverse the moral
degeneration
The division of labor in society – French doctoral thesis in 1983
Methodological statement The Rules of Sociological Method in 1895
Empirical application of those methods in the study of suicide
By 1896 full professor at Bordeaux
Biography (1858-1917)
1902 he was summoned to the famous French university the Sorbonne
1906- professor of the science of education
1913 professor of the science of education and sociology
The Elementary Forms of Religious Life in 1912
Today as a conservative but in his time, he was considered a liberal
Dryfus affair -1894
Durkheim’s interest in socialism – different from Marx and his followers
(disputable and out-of-date hypothesis)
Biography (1858-1917)
Aim of socialism – moral regeneration of society through scientific morality
Not interested in short-term political methods or the economic aspects of
socialism
Greatly opposed to agitation or violence
His socialism represented a system in which the moral principles discovered
by scientific sociology were to be applied
Died on 15, 1917, a celebrated figure in French intellectual circles, but it
was not until over twenty years later, with the publication of Talcott
Parsons’s The Structure of Social Action (1937), that his work became a
significant influence on American sociology
3.1 Rules of sociological method
Two main themes – priority of the social over the individual and the second idea
that society can be studied scientifically
Society is made up of “social facts” which exceed our intuitive understanding and
must be investigated through observations and measurements.
He recognized the roots of sociology in the ancient philosophers – such as Plato
and Aristotle – French philosophers – Montesquieu and Condorcet but they didn’t
try to create an entirely new discipline
No field of sociology per se in late-nineteenth-century universities
There was significant opposition from existing disciplines – psychology and
philosophy
3.1 Rules of sociological method
Philosophy vs Sociology – should be oriented toward empirical research
Distinctive subject matter of sociology should be the study of social facts – are the
social structures and cultural norms and values that are external to, and coercive
of, actors.
Students, for example, are constrained by such social structures as the university
bureaucracy as well as the norms and values of society. Similar social facts
constrain people in all areas of social life
Social facts are to be treated as “things” and studied empirically
We must study social facts by acquiring data from outside of our own minds
through observation and explanation
3.1 Rules of sociological method
Social fact is experienced as an external constraint rather than an internal drive; it
is general throughout society
Social facts can be explained only by other social facts
Durkheim himself gave several examples of social facts, including legal rules,
moral obligations, language, etc
He differentiated between two broad types of social facts – material and non-
material
Population size and density, channels of communication, and housing
arrangements (Morphological)
Style of architecture, forms of technology – material social facts are the easier to
understand because they are directly observable
3.1 Rules of sociological method
What sociologists now call norms and values, or more generally culture, are good
examples of what Durkheim meant by nonmaterial social facts.
Heart of his sociology – non-material social fact
‘Not all social consciousness achieves ……externalization and materialization’
Ambiguity in non-material social fact
Types of nonmaterial social facts –
Morality: morality was the foundation of Durkheim’s sociology. As a social fact,
it can be empirically studied, is external to the individual, is coercive of the
individual, and is explained by other social facts. He was a sociologist of morality
because his studies were driven by his concern about the moral health of modern
society.
Collective conscience: Common morality – collective conscience. The totality
of beliefs and sentiments of common citizens of the same society forms a
determinate system that has its own life: one may call it the collective or
common conscience. However, it can be realized only through them. (Durkheim,
1893/1964: 79-80) primitive societies – strong collective conscience – more
shared understanding, norms, and beliefs – than modern societies.
Collective representation: religious symbols, myths, popular legends, flags,
icons, and pictures or connected to practices such as ritual
Social currents
3.2 Division of labors in society and anomic
Traced the development of the modern relationship between individuals and
society
In France in Durkheim's day, there was a widespread feeling of moral crisis.
FR as an attack on traditional authority and religious beliefs
Mechanical Solidarity: common work, and common experience consequently
have common values, the primitive family headed by the father hunter and
mother food gatherer is practically self-sufficient, strong collective conscience (
shared norms, understanding),
repressive law
Organic Solidarity: specialized task, no longer share common
experiences, in modern society people perform a relatively narrow
range of tasks, they need many other people to survive, family needs
the grocer, baker, auto mechanics, teacher, police officer, and so
forth, society held together by the specialization of people and their
need for the services of many others. Increasing division of labour-
collective conscience is of much less significance, rational
interdependency,
restitutive law
Abnormal forms of division of labour in modern
society
1. the anomic division of labour: lack of regulation – celebrates isolated
individuality and refrain from telling people what they should do
2. the forced division of labour: outdated norms and expectations can force
individuals, groups, and classes into positions for which they are ill suited.
Traditions, economic power, or status can determine who performs what jobs
regardless of talent and qualification.
3. the poorly coordinated division of labour: when the specialized functions
performed by different people are poorly coordinated. Specialization – do not
result in increased interdependence but simply isolation – the division of labour
will not result in social solidarity.
3.3 Social solidarity and suicide
Example of how a sociologist should connect theory and research
Suicide is generally considered to be one of the most private and personal
acts. Durkheim believed that if he could show that sociology had a role to
play in explaining such a seemingly individualistic act as suicide, it would
be relatively easy to extend sociology’s domain to phenomena that are much
more readily seen as open to sociological analysis
Individual committed suicide (psychologist) vs differences in suicide rates
Two ways of evaluation suicide rates – 1. compare different societies or
types of collectivities.( Cross culturally) 2. look at the changes in the
suicide rate in the same collectivity over time (historically)
The four types of suicide- - two underlying social facts (regulation and
integration)
Four types of suicide
Integration – strength of the attachment that we have to society
Regulation – the degree of external constraint on people
For Durkheim, the two social currents are continuous variables, and
suicide rates go up when either of these currents is too high or too low
Egoistic suicide – individual is not well integrated into the larger social
unit. This lack of integration leads to a feeling that the individual is not
pat of society, but this also means society is not part of the individual.
Role of religion – protestant religion, unmarried and therefore less
integrated into a family, national political crisis such as wars and
revolutions
Four types of suicide
Altruistic suicide – social integration is too strong
Anomic suicide – the regulative power of society are disrupted,
insatiable race for gratification, positive (economic boom) or negative (
economic depression), old norms no longer apply but new ones have yet
to develop, currents of anomie – moods of rootlessness and normlessness
– and these currents lead to an increase in rates of anomic suicide
Fatalistic suicide : regulation is excessive, oppressive discipline –
melancholy – rise in the rate of fatalistic suicide
3.4 Religion and social construction of the sacred
The Elementary Forms of Religious life
He found the enduring essence of religion in the setting apart of the sacred from all
that is profane. This sacred is created through rituals that transform the moral power
of society into religious symbols that bind individuals to the group (Totemism)
Society creates religion by defining certain phenomena as sacred and others as
profane
He refused to believe that all religion is nothing but an illusion – such a pervasive
social phenomenon must have some truth
As a strict agnostic, Durkheim could not believe that anything supernatural was the
source of these religious feelings
3.4 Religion and social construction of the
sacred
There really is superior moral power that inspires believers, but it is society and
not God
Beliefs – are the representations which express the nature of sacred things and
relations which they sustain, either with each other or with profane things
Rituals – the rules of conduct which prescribe how a man should comport himself
in the presence of these sacred objects
Church – single overarching moral community
A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices which unite into one single
moral community called a Church, all those who adhere them
Rituals + church = representation of the social to individual practices