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Anika Kaushal 1742145 April 9th 2018 Sociological Analysis of Émile Durkheim Émile Durkheim was a well known French sociologist in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He is known as one of the three principal founders of modern sociology, along with Karl Marx and Max Weber. Durkheim earned the title of “The Father of Sociology” as well. Durkheim had a passion for sociology, although his approaches were significantly different from other sociologists. He had a great interest in a scientific approach to society, which was not common among sociologists at the time. Émile Durkheim had a passion for understanding how societies form as well as how societies function and made incredible discoveries.

At the start of his career, Durkheim developed an interest in a scientific approach to society. This initiated several conflicts with the French academic system as the establishment had no social science curriculum at that time. Durkheim was not intrigued by humanistic studies and lacked interest to further his knowledge in this subject. This caused him to focus on ethics and sociology rather than psychology and philosophy. In 1885, Durkheim moved to Germany to study sociology for two years. He enjoyed learning about sociology very much. While he was in Germany, the publication of numerous articles on German social social science and philosophy took place. France recognized these publications and this led to Durkheim receiving a teaching appointment at the University of Bordeaux in 1887. Durkheim had a goal to aid in reforming the French school system. To the curriculum, he introduced the study of social science. This was an indication of the growth of importance and recognition of the social sciences as well as a major sign in the change of times.

Durkheim published his first major work in 1893, “The Division of Labour in Society”. In his work, “The Division of Labour in Society”, Durkheim introduced the concept of “anomie” which is the understanding to the influence of social norms and values on individuals within a society. Two years later, in 1895, “The Rules of Sociological Method” by Émile Durkheim was published. This was his second major work, a public declaration of policy and aims which focuses on what sociology is and how it works. By 1897 his third major work was published, “Suicide: A Study in Sociology”. This work was a case study which studied and analyzed the different suicide rates among Protestants and Catholics. Durkheim had a strong belief that within the Catholic community, stronger social control resulted in lower suicide rates. In 1912, Durkheim published his last work

“The Elementary Forms of The Religious Life”. In this book, he analyzed religion as a social phenomenon. Durkheim also published many more articles and reviews. Some of his lecture courses were published after his passing as well. All four of his major works explore a society. New information as well as descriptions are brought into light as well. At this time in history, the individuals of the society had very little knowledge on the concept of sociology. Durkheim had a goal in mind to provide insight on the social science aspect on society. His works were the first publications to provide understandings of how a society works and allowed for readers to gain a deeper knowledge of aspects found within a society.

Émile Durkheim focused on the idea of reality and presented an understanding of one of his claims based on his views on reality. One of Durkheim’s main claims is that a society is a “sui generis” reality. This refers to a reality which is unique to itself and exclusive to its composing parts. The creation begins when individual consciences interact and work together to create a synthetic reality which is totally new and greater than the sum of its parts. This reality cannot be understood in biological or psychological explanations, it can only be understood in sociological terms. The fact that social life inhibited this quality formed the foundation and underlying support of another one of Durkheim’s claims. This claim was that societies which contained humans could be studied scientifically. The concept of scientific studies on a society was not common among the culture at the time, social science was newly introduced to the society by Émile Durkheim. He created a new methodology which introduces “social facts” which is elements of collective life that leave independently and allow for an influence on the individual. The two claims were new concepts that Durkheim had developed, the claims provided insight on his views on reality as well as the belief that societies with humans could be studied scientifically. This was new to the culture and allowed for individuals to gain deeper understandings of sociological terms, as it was uncommon at the time. The idea of social science was exceptionally new to the society and Durkheim was attempting to provide understandings of this concept he supported.

Using the new methodology of “social facts” he introduced, Durkheim published more works on several topics, these were extremely influential works. He analyzes different social institutions and what they do in society. Durkheim’s work is often linked with the theoretical framework of structural functionalism. Durkheim wanted to account for a complete sociology of knowledge. He discovered that society creates for itself through its “représentations collectives” which is a wide network of language and thought that is contributory in permitting individuals to understand the world as well as think. Durkheim had a theory which is that from the start, society established the restrictions and limits of possibility for rationality, knowledge in general and linguistic expression. Sociology had

not been recognized as an independent field of study when Durkheim began writing. This is one of the reasons as to why his works were considered to be different and uncommon. Durkheim wanted to change the concept of sociology not being recognized as an independent field of study as he had grew a passion in this domain. In order to do this, he went to great lengths to segregate sociology from all the other disciplines that were present, especially philosophy. Durkheim believed that sociology has an advantage over philosophy as his sociological technique allowed the means to study questions related to philosophy empirically, instead of metaphysically and theoretically. Due to this ideology, he began to frequently use sociology to approach topics that have been traditionally reserved for philosophical research.

Durkheim was a fundamental figure for sociology as well as social theory. He is known as one of the founding thinkers of sociology. However, the influence of Durkheim’s views and thoughts were slightly less noticed compared to Marx and Weber, two other principal founders of modern sociology along with Durkheim. This was mainly due to the decrease in students in the Durkheimian school of thought due to the unfortunate deaths of most of his promising students in World War I. His views and thoughts being somewhat muted can also be explained by Durkheim’s separation of sociology from philosophy and the fact that his thought was misunderstood as the approach of scientific study was seen as unusual. Although, his ideas, discoveries and creations continue to have a great and strong impact in the social sciences to this day. His works have a strong impact in sociology and anthropology the most. There were many individuals in particular who were greatly influenced by him; Marcel Mauss, Paul Fauconnet, Célestin Bouglé, Lucien Lévy-Bruhl, Maurice Halbwachs, Talcott Parsons, Alfred RadcliffeBrown, and Claude Levi-Strauss. These were all members found in his research group. In contempt of his works being different as it focused on the social scientific studies of a society, his works greatly influenced many philosophers such as Henri Bergeson and Emmanuel Levinas. His unique thinking offered the capacity to gain a deep intuitive understanding into sociology in his perspective. Looking at all the work Durkheim has done in his past, it is evident that he focuses on how societies form and and how societies function. He also considered how societies can maintain order as well as stability, this is seen in some of his four major works. Due to this, Durkheim is viewed as the creator of the functionalist perspective, which is “a sociological framework that sees society as similar to an organism, with a number of interrelated and necessary elements. Each element, or structure, is seen as having an equally important function for the maintenance of a particular society”, according to Joanne Naiman in How Societies Work (Naiman p. 316). It is also one of the major theoretical perspectives in sociology. His focus was also on how a society stays together, which meant he brought to attention to the shared experiences, values,

perspectives, beliefs and behaviours that let individuals to feel that they are a part of a group as well as that working together to keep the group is in a common interest they share. Durkheim’s work presents information related to culture as well. It endures deeply relevant and useful to how sociologists study culture today. His works allow for us to understand how we are a society; how it was formed, how it works and what holds us together. In this point in history, the study of how societies are formed and function was not a concept that had been discussed yet. Since sociology was not yet recognized as an independent field of study, any ideas or concepts related to sociology was almost foreign to the culture. It was a new area of knowledge that was being built, Durkheim contributed to this new knowledge. Durkheim had three main goals he wanted to achieve throughout his career. The first goal was to establish sociology as a current academic discipline and have it recognized as an independent field of study. His second goal was to study and analyze how societies work and manage to maintain their moral uprightness and the quality of being logical and consistent in the modern era. Lastly, his third goal was to apply social scientific approaches in the studies he conducted. His works and way of thinking was extremely unique as it was never seen before, Durkheim wanted to explore new methods and techniques that were not recognized as apart of the culture yet. His way of thinking involved using social science and had an interest in a scientific approach to society. This was uncommon and not recognized in the world at the time. His interest in scientific approach initiated several conflicts with the French academic system as the establishment had no social science curriculum at that time. However, Durkheim stood strong and continued to use his approach and eventually led to France recognizing his works. This led to Durkheim helping to reform the French school system, he introduced the study of social science to the curriculum. This was a demonstration of the growth of importance and recognition of the social sciences as well as a major sign in the change of times. Sociology had not been recognized as an independent field of study when Durkheim began writing, and he wanted to change this. His views on society were distinctive as no other sociologist had any similar views and understandings. Durkheim’s works, discoveries, ideas and creations impacted and influenced many individuals and philosophers. His works remain recognized in our society today. His four major works explore society and he provided descriptions that allow for a deeper understanding of the society as well. Durkheim wanted individuals to gain insight on the social science aspect of society. His works allowed for individuals to gain a deeper knowledge of aspects found within a society. Durkheim’s investigations were like no other sociologist’s investigations, he was using a new approach and was going to great lengths to separate sociology from philosophy which was never seen before. Durkheim was an incredible sociologist that gave a new understanding to how societies form and work while also focusing on the details that come into play with his big picture of understanding how societies form and function.

References Carls, Paul. “Émile Durkheim (1858—1917).” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy , www.iep.utm.edu/durkheim/#SH3f. Cole, Nicki Lisa. “Why Emile Durkheim Matters to Today's Sociologists.” ThoughtCo, 30 Jan. 2018, www.thoughtco.com/emile-durkheim-relevance-to-sociology-today-3026482. Crossman, Ashley. “Emile Durkheim and His Role in the History of Sociology.” ThoughtCo, 5 Jan. 2018, www.thoughtco.com/emile-durkheim-3026488.

Crossman, Ashley. “Everything You Need to Know About Functionalist Theory.” ThoughtCo, 12 Jan. 2018, www.thoughtco.com/functionalist-perspective-3026625. Crossman, Ashley. “Feeling Disconnected From Society? You Could Be Suffering From Anomie.” ThoughtCo, 17 Jan. 2018, www.thoughtco.com/anomie-definition-3026052. Naiman, Joanne. How Societies Work Class, Power, and Change. W. Ross MacDonald School Resource Services Library, 2016. Peyre, Henri M. “Émile Durkheim.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 16 June 2017, www.britannica.com/biography/Emile-Durkheim. Unknown. “Emile Durkheim.” Emile Durkheim - New World Encyclopedia, New World Encyclopedia, www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Emile_Durkheim....