Durkheim Essay on Theories PDF

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Gagne essay on Emile Durkheim theories...

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St Dr. Patricia Gagné Social Theory 11 August 2020 Assignment 4 A good theory should be solid enough to not be easily disproved and provide a basis for the theory to be expanded upon and improved. Emile Durkheim, often referred to as the father of sociology, crafted several theories which encompass these traits. His work on realism, social facts, and suicide left a powerful impact on sociology and the understanding of how groups impact individual behavior. These theories have persisted through the test of time and Durkheim's theories are taught in modern sociology classes today over one hundred years after his death (Gagne). Emile Durkheim's work rotated around the ontology of realism. Durkheim believed that social order and society were a seperate force and not just the combination of other forces. Specifically, Durkheim concerned himself with social facts- common threads in life which change behaviors such as laws, the economy, and rituals. Durkheim's epistemology focused on social facts as well. It used a comparative method to examine what existed or didn't exist in one scenario as compared to another which may have led to a behavioral shift. He also developed structural positivism, which used empirical evidence as a base for showing how factors outside of an individual impact an individual's behavior. Durkheim's ultimate goal in creating his theories was to to predict social behavior and, with that knowledge, control social behaviors (Gagne).

Arguably one of Durkheim's most influential theories was his theory on suicide. In his study, he details how social factors influence the very private and personal act of suicide. In particular, he found that two factors- integration and regulation- caused the greatest disparity in suicide. Integration is the identity that an individual has in a social group while regulation is the way that they are expected to act and participate within the social group. These actions are typically structured around unchanging routine and rituals. Following the rituals leads to moral cohesion in which members of a group share a collective consciousness, or the collective beliefs of a group which is larger than individual beliefs. Rituals are routine acts which unite a group to perform them. These acts are often seen in the context of religion, with Easter Mass being a prime example. It occurs in a very predictable way and brings members of a congregation together to worship a religious figure. These rituals build a common thread within participants that increase social solidarity in a group, therefore increasing the power of collective consciousness and moral cohesion. This social solidarity helps the group feel bonded to each other and creates a strong sense of belonging. These factors tend to decrease suicide rates in societies (Gagne). While Durkheim's work on suicide is his most well-known theory, he also studied crime and deviance as an interaction in society. Deviance is inevitable as it tests the collective consciousness of society and the normalities within it (Gagne). In my life, I have met a variety of people who either uphold or reject the collective consciousness of American society. Recently, I sat down with them and discussed how their lives may have impacted the acts that they have participated in. For their anonymity, all names and identifying factors have been modified.

I began talking with Erin, a fairly young rule-following woman who gets scared if she drive a few miles above the posted speed limit. Erin lives with her fiance in Louisville and worked retail before losing her store due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Her goals in life are to get married, start a family, and build a home from the ground up to live in. Despite the circumstances in the world, Erin spends her time signing petitions and encouraging people to vote for the changes that they want to see in the world. I began our interview by asking her about her social experience in school. She told me that she was never popular at school, but within the smaller subgroups she had a stable group of friends that she could rely on. They pegged themselves as the outcasts and nerds due to their love of fantasy tabletop games and obscure media, but were a community within themselves. Within that group, she was the leader. She was also involved in more formal groups with her school's chapter of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Core (ROTC) and volunteer work as an EMT at a local fire station. In these groups she quickly moved up the ranks and asserted herself as a leader. While participating in these activities, she had a family at home supporting her and serving as a source of comfort during hard times. She appears very integrated within the groups that she was a part of during her school experience (Hardy). Erin spent a lot of time dedicated to the programs she found herself in. She ate dinner with her family nightly, played Dungeons and Dragons with her friend group every Sunday, and attended hour-long ROTC classes daily for about two academic years. At the fire station, she attended classes twice a week for six months to earn her EMT certification. Despite the hard work, she smiles as she recalls some of the stories of her ROTC squad mates making jokes or her friends breaking a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. The rituals created by the groups she ran in created a high regulation. This strong regulation and integration helped her feeling of belonging

and assisted her in adopting the collective consciousness of the group. Erin said that as she spent more time in ROTC she found herself more politically conservative despite a moderate stance before participating in the program. She would joke with her squad mates about the liberal agenda and condemn the reduction of military spending. She shook her head as she recounted this and said, "now I just wanna marry my girl and maybe punch a cop (referring to the recent police brutality protests)". She finished up our conversation by reminiscing and stating how she missed the communities that she had then before moving away for college. She felt a strong solidarity with her family being there for her at all times and consistent friend groups that helped her sense of belonging (Hardy). After Erin left, I called another friend of mine, Anubis. Anubis doesn't live a life like Erin's, and in fact participates in a variety of deviant activities. Anubis also lost his job due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and has been spending his extra time commissioning copious amounts of anthropromorphic pornography and threatening cops. In the past, Anubis has gotten banned from two Targets for stealing and a WalMart for creating a Slip-N-Slide in the middle of an aisle. His goals also include love, but Anubis doesn't know if he wants to marry or just date different people eternally. As Anubis doesn't live in my vicinity, I started the call with a quick briefing of what was happening. To gather similar categorical information, I asked what high school was like for Anubis's social life. Anubis described how he was also in ROTC with Erin, but never felt like he belonged. He flirted with theatre, and found a sense of community there, but was never respected by the elites of the group. His family was a source of fear from his abusive father and enabling step-mother. Instead of the typical social groups, Anubis found belonging in an online community for the furry kink, in which anthropomorphised animals engage in sexual acts.

Anubis's life had very low regulation, as the only consistency in his life were theatre meetings three times a week for the final two weeks of a production (he was ensemble and didn't get called to rehearsal often) and family dinners where he was ridiculed before he finally stopped going. This disparity continued throughout his social circles, with a lack of rituals leaving him feeling lost and alone (Hardy). Anubis felt isolated in everything, especially his beliefs. His family was extremely homophobic towards him and ROTC didn't present agreeable views either. Theatre presented amicable views, but they never quite aligned with Anubis's opinions. The furry community came the closest, but the open relationships pushed in the group made Anubis uncomfortable. Anubis was unable to adopt the collective consciousness of the groups he was most involved in, perhaps due to the infrequent meetings and lack of belonging. Because of this, Anubis never felt solidarity with the community and always felt like he was on the outside looking in. In accordance with Durkheim's theory, he has made multiple attempts on his life and even been in altercations with police when they arrived to transport to a mental health facility. Erin's life was bathed in comfort and support while Anubis had to fight to stay from being constantly belittled. Erin belonged and excelled in multiple groups while Anubis could never quite fit in. The two have led very different lives, and using Durkheim's theories, it isn't impossible to see why (Hardy). Durkheim theorized that suicide was predictable based on how integrated and regulated a person was in society. Similarly, risk for committing crime can be predicted in this way. Just as being involved in society makes a person less likely to commit suicide, higher involvement makes a person less likely to commit crime. It is much harder to destroy what you love. Erin

loved her community and the sense of belonging she found within it while Anubis loathed his and the abuses that he faced. These differing experiences changed how the two interacted with the world around them. Because Erin was so involved with her friend groups and social circles, she was highly regulated. She had weekly tasks to complete which had her interact with her group and increase the solidarity for the group. As a group, they developed ideals and norms that held together their collective consciousness and encouraged behaviors such as acts of public service. Their moral cohesion focused on putting others first and supporting other group members. This led to a life of helping people for Erin and looking out for the common man. Meanwhile Anubis's lack of integration led to an absence of regulation or activities. His life was sporadic with activities happening with little to no warning. The unpredictability kept him detached and from connecting with the groups he did have contact with. The lack of connection removed any chance of forming a collective consciousness or solidarity. Due to this, Anubis was left to make his own decisions on morality and what he deemed acceptable. With no one to hold him accountable to collective rules, there was less social risk to stealing items from a big box retailer or pouring dish soap in the middle of the canned goods aisle. He wouldn't lose the group that he belonged to, so why not have fun doing something that seemed to provide dopamine, if only for a moment. Anubis spends his time and money making sure that he feels taken care of. He feels utterly alone, and feels that there is nothing to lose by acting out. There are no group morals to be broken if the group simply doesn't exist. Based on what I learned in my interviews with Erin and Anubis, a sense of integration can change the course of a life. Because Erin was so involved in activities and created a moral cohesion in her group that she didn't want to break, she spent her time doing things to benefit the

group and its members. Anubis, however, floundered in his lack of belonging and did whatever felt good in the moment since there didn't seem to be any consequences. Being able to measure risk-taking behavior would have been helpful in this comparison. If Anubis had existed in Erin's supportive groups, would his innate willingness to take risks be dampened, or was the risky behavior only created due to the rough past he faced? This information could back the theory that social groups are the most predictable factor as to future criminal behavior. In addition, did the appearance of the two change the amount of crime that they would be able to get away with? Anubis has fought police, yet has never ended up in jail. He is a white, cisgender male who presents very masculine. Erin, however, presents more androgynous which is, for many, a sign of her sexual orientation. She is also female and at higher risk for violent acts unprovoked against her. Anubis's presence as a majority may have protected him from acts that Erin knew she couldn't get away with. In addition, the heightened risk of threat against Erin may have caused her to seek out groups and establish herself as very valuable to them as a form of protection. Unfortunately, it is often hard to tell all of the factors that impact a casual relationship between variables. That being said, it is hard to deny the strong correlation between social standing and deviant behavior. If the conclusions that I have drawn are correct, one of the most important factors for reducing deviant acts such as crime and suicide are social groups. Creating integration with a strong group of healthy peers who encourage helpful acts and regulating the behaviors to where they meet regularly can naturally create a sense of moral cohesion and collective consciousness to where the group regulates themselves and prevents deviance. Juvenile delinquency, in particular, can be slowed with the implication of social groups, perhaps mandated, that

encourage bonding and healthier alternatives to activities. Many drug recovery programs use this idea, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, where members meet on a regular basis (regulation) and share their successes and failures as they recover. While for juvenile delinquents other, more interesting avenues than just talk can be explored, such as sport teams or drama club. Being involved and belonging may be the single most important thing keeping people from committing crimes, so redistributing police budgets to better fund schools and after-school programs can help reduce the rate of crime as children are presented with more opportunity to make healthy associations and create collective consciousness surrounding the norms in current American society.

Works Cited

Gagne, Patricia. “Emile Durkheim (1858-1917).” Social Theory. 2020, blackboard.louisville.edu/ultra/courses/_1630677_1/cl/outline.

Hardy, Samantha M, et al. “Durkheim's Suicide Theory as Applied to the Lives of Personal Friends.” 8 Aug. 2020....