Emile Durkheim - Dr. Smith PDF

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Emile Durkheim STUDIED SOCIETY NOT INDIVIDUALITY!!! 02/13/18

Durkheim wanted to do a few things: ➢ Wanted to differentiate sociology from psychology (which focuses on the individual) ➢ Wanted to differentiate sociology from philosophy (too abstract) ➢ Durkheim wanted concrete ideas about society Durkheim talks a lot about Social Facts ➢ Aka the study of constraints that exist outside the individual ➢ Full definition: social facts are the social norms and values that are external to and coercive of actors (people) ➢ Examples of social facts: Suicide, crime, homelessness ○ Social facts can only be explained by other social facts 1. Social facts can be empirically studied 2. Social facts are external to the individual 3. Social facts are coercive to the individual 4. Social facts are explained by other social facts Durkheim says there are TWO types of social facts ➢ Material Social Facts ○ Directly observable ➢ NONMaterial Social Facts ○ Kinda like values & norms (today’s version of culture) ○ Nonmaterial Social Facts: ■ Morality - Socially shared values are the foundation of a society ■ Collective Conscious - Peoples totality of beliefs create a general social structure that can be studied as a social fact ■ Collective Representations - Morality and collective conscious manifest in both material and nonmaterial - symbols that are religious or civic in nature ■ Social Currents - Organizations, structures and even non-ritualistic events provide the structured basis where people can interact Division of labor increases solidarity Mechanical and Organic Solidarity

➢ Mechanical → Collective Conscious/ (includes) repressive laws ➢ Organic → Mutual Dependence / increasing cooperation/ producing more resources/ restitutive laws Normal and Pathological ➢ Abnormal forms of the division of labor ○ Anomic division of labor ■ People are not tethered by laws ■ People are not regulated ■ Refrain from people telling them what to do ○ Forced division of labor ○ Poorly coordinated division of labor (social)Suicide ➢ LOW

HIGH

EGOISTIC

← INTEGRATION →

ALTRUISTIC

ANOMIC

← REGULATION →

FATALISTIC

➢ Altruistic suicide is common in primitive societies. ○ Commiting suicide for the greater good (HIGH SOCIAL REGULATION PRESSURE FROM THE GROUP TO COMMIT THIS ACT) ➢ Anome ○ Anomic suicide ■ Normalnessness, rootlessness, meaninglessness ■ This suicide can happen during an economic recession ■ LOW social regulation ■ Happens when there is an economic boom (why?) ● Bc you might get a new wife, house, move, etc ○ Gives you a sense of rootlessness ○ Fatalistic Suicide ■ High social regulation ■ Ex- Mom jumps on top of bomb to try and save her child ■ Ex- Slave who commits suicide ➢ Integration and Regulation are fine until they become EXTREME ➢...