People
Emile Durkheim 1858–1917
- France
French
sociologist. Along with Max Weber he is considered one of the chief founders
of modern sociology. Educated in France and Germany, Durkheim taught social
science at the Univ. of Bordeaux and the Sorbonne. His view that the methods
of natural science can be applied to the study of society was influenced by
the positivist philosophy of Auguste Comte. Durkheim held that the
collective mind of society was the source of religion and morality and that
the common values developed in society, particularly in primitive societies,
are the cohesive bonds of social order. In more complex societies, he
suggests, the division of labor makes for cohesiveness, but the loss of
commonly held values leads to social instability and disorientation of the
individual. Durkheim studied suicide to show the importance of anomie, the
loss of morale that accompanies decline in social identity. To support his
theories he drew extensively on anthropological and statistical
materials.
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright ©
2003 Columbia University Press
Encyclopedia Entries
Questions of
Reading
The Division of Labor in Society (1893, tr. 1933),
The Rules of Sociological Method (1895, tr. 1938),
Le Suicide (1897),
The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912, tr. 1915).
Writing available on the net
Pragmatism
and the Question of Truth
Commentaries
The Durkheim Pages
Durkheim
Page
Emile Durkheim Thinking
Politica
Emile Durkheim Archives
Resources
on Durkheim
Emile
Durkheim Time line for the history of
science and social science
See biography by S. Lukes (1985); studies by S. Lukes (1972), R. A. Nisbet
(1965 and 1974), N. Smelser (1963), and D. La Capra (1985).
Quotations
| CLASSICAL SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY:
A Review of Themes, Concepts, and
Perspectives
Durkheim
|
CLASSICAL SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY SSR Prelim Summary Archive
Durkheim, Emile On the
Division of Labor in Society. New York: Free Press, 1964, book 1, chs. 1-4,
7; book 2, ch. 2; book 3, chs. 1-3.
_________. 'Types of
Suicide.' TS, pp. 213-18.
_________. 'Anomic
Suicide.' TS, pp. 916-29.
_________. 'On the
Normality of Crime.' TS, pp. 872-76.
_________. Elementary
Forms of the Religious Life. New York: Free Press, 1947 (orig. 1915).
'Introduction'; book 1, ch. 1; book 2, ch. 7; book 3, ch. 1; 'Conclusion.'