Emile Durkheim

Emile Durkheim

Introduction

Emile Durkheim is a French sociologist who became famous during late 19th and early 20th century. He has been credited, along with Max Weber and Karl Marx, as one of the chief founders of modern sociology. He claimed that society can be studied scientifically and for this he formulated a new method which was based on “social facts” - as called by Durkheim (Thompson, 2002). These facts exist independently and may influence individuals. Based on this method, he published number of influential works on different topics. He analyzed different social institutions and their roles in society. Owing to this fact, his work is considered to be the foundation of theoretical framework of structural functionalism. “On The Division of Labor”, “Suicide”, “The Rules of Sociological Method” and “the Elementary Forms of Religious Life” are his most prominent works. Besides these works, he also reviewed and published number of article along with many lectures which were published posthumously (Thompson, 2002).

Sociology was not identified as an independent discipline to study before Durkheim. In order to separate sociology from other fields of study, especially from philosophy, Durkheim did many efforts. This is the reason that, at one hand, his influence on social sciences is extensive; on the other hand, his relation with philosophy remains vague (Elwell, 2003). Durkheim sustained that both philosophy and sociology are complementary to each other in many ways, but sociology has an advantage over philosophy. It is because sociological methods let study philosophical questions empirically rather than theoretically and metaphysically. In this paper, different works of Emile Durkheim, which influenced sociology, will be discussed in detail.

Discussion

Functionalism

Durkheim, like many scientists of his time, had the desire to make an exact science. The functionalist, as its name suggests, focuses on understanding the function of the elements that constitute the social body. In other words, the society is regarded as a biological metaphor, like a living organism. Each organ of the social body has a specific function. The work of sociologist true physician of the social body is to study these functions and try to analyze and cure pathological disorders that may affect the society (Elwell, 2003). Such a vision of the society is much more positive (i.e., observable and verifiable) a critical sociology of Marx or micro-sociology symbolic Max Weber. Durkheim uses the scientific method to identify general laws which seem to govern society. He is using tools such as statistical analysis or solid sources.

Social Order

Social facts or social forces or social phenomena were considered to be the subject matter of sociology by Emile Durkheim. Social facts are unique realities or “sui generis” which should be studied separately from psychological or biological process. These social facts are the patterns of behavior which may exert influence on individuals. These are the external control and guides of individuals in the form of mores, norms and folkways. Education and socialization may make these externalities, internalized in to the consciousness of individuals. These are the social constraints that become moral obligation ...