Study Guide 3 Durkheim PDF

Preview

Summary

completed study guide...

Description

Study Guide #3 – Emile Durkheim 1. What did Durkheim mean by the idea that social facts are things? - Durkheim suggested that social facts should be regarded as things because they are something that can be studied empirically. Additionally, he believed that they are ‘things’ because social facts are experienced externally, it is something that occurs to everyone and explained by other social facts. Durkheim’s claim that social facts are things is what made the distinction between sociology and other related disciplines. 2. What did Durkheim see as the difference between material and nonmaterial social facts? (Please give examples of each of these.) - According to Durkheim, the difference between material and nonmaterial social facts is that material facts are things that can be openly observed, while nonmaterial facts are things that cannot be seen, yet have the same effect as material facts in that they are coercive. Examples of material facts are population size and density, housing arrangements, laws and so much more. On the other hand, examples of nonmaterial facts include norms, values, culture and morality. 3. What did Durkheim mean by the “collective conscience?” - To Durkheim, ‘collective conscience’ referred to the aggregate moral conscience of a given society, which governs the shared norms and beliefs of groups of societies. Furthermore, collective conscience is a concept that can be explained by other social facts and is independent. It is something that is associated with one’s own conscience but needed to be fully realized. 4. What did Durkheim mean by "mechanical solidarity"? - According to Durkheim, ‘mechanical solidarity’ is when a society is bonded together by doing the same activities and having the same obligations. It is a society of ‘generalists’ where families are self-sufficient and don’t rely outsiders. 5. What did he mean by "organic solidarity"? - According to Durkheim, ‘organic solidarity’ is when a society is unified by the diversity of labor and responsibilities. This type of society thrives because citizens of this society have different jobs and must rely on each other in order to survive. 6. What is egoistic suicide? What is anomic suicide? What is altruistic suicide? - According to Durkheim, there are four different types of suicide: egoistic, anomic, altruistic and fatalistic. Egoistic suicide refers to suicide that contains low integration because people who commit this, tend to feel that they are not part of society and vice versa. On the other hand, altruistic suicide refers suicide that is high in integration which means that those who commit (forced) suicide believe they are doing it for the greater good. Furthermore, anomic suicide is referring to suicide that has low regulation leading to people committing suicide due to feeling out of control in moments of disruption. 7. According to Durkheim, how is it possible to study religion from a sociological perspective?

- In Durkheim’s mind, religion was something that could be studied because society created religion and religion symbolically personifies society itself. He thought that society was the supernatural entity that inspired people, not God because we were the ones that decided which aspects of life were sacred and which not. Thus, he believed that it was something that could be studied. o 8. What is totemism and why is it significant sociologically? - From Durkheim’s point of view, totemism is a simple religious system where certain objects such as, animals and plants, are viewed as something sacred by the members of that group. He believed that totemism was the material representation of the nonmaterial forces that ultimately lead to societies forces. This concept is important to sociology because Durkheim was able to use this as a driver of his new theory that linked society, knowledge and religion. It gave sociologists a way of categorizing natural objects that reflect the social organization of societies. 9. How is knowledge related to the social world according to Durkheim? - Durkheim believed that knowledge was related to the social world because he thought knowledge was created through social creations. Previously people thought that knowledge came purely from experience or that it was something we were born with, however Durkheim believed that those were only factors that attributed to knowledge. 10. What is collective effervescence and what does it reveal about the nature of social forces? - According to Durkheim, collective effervescence is when a society can attain a new heightened level of exaltation that leads to amazing alterations to the structure of society. It is reveals that collective effervescence is basically a social fact. 11. How is sociology connected to morality according to Durkheim? - According to Durkheim, morality is connected to sociology because it is attached to society since society is the origin of morality and that a new morality could originate only from society’s collective moral traditions. In truth, Durkheim’s view or morality as contradicting. He believed that ethical rule should evolve with evolving social facts, yet he also stated that no one person can simply create a new morality. 12. What is the role of education from Durkheim's perspective? - In Durkheim’s perspective, education plays an important role to the foundation of modern morality. He saw it as a process where students could obtain physical, intellectual, and moral tools needed to thrive in society. He thought that education allows students to learn all the three elements of morality: discipline, attachment to society and autonomy. 13. What is the value of occupational associations from Durkheim's point of view? - Durkheim believed that occupational associations were beneficial to society because it would bring people from the same industries together with the aims of creating strong bonds. These bonds would aid to stop the decline of the

significance of collective morality and counteract the atomization of modern society.

Anomic suicide- not knowing the culture/what to expect freaks them out and they get alienated. Which leads to suicide. He thought that morality and the ability to control themselves was controlled but society so when there wasn’t enough regulation they would not be able to connect to anything greater(morality) and commit suicide. Says that we as individuals cannot function without society and we don’t have morality without society. We cannot develop morality by ourselves, we need society. Collective effervescence- a collective understanding that is causing some sort of change in the people exposed to it....