Emile Durkheim's Sociological Theory

Along with his study on social facts, he also focused some on the Division of Labor. Many people during this time believed that the social order of things was in danger due to the selfishness of society as a whole. While Marx believed that capitalism was a bad thing and was bringing down society, Durkheim believed that it was a good thing and it pulled society together. As times progressed, so did society. Durkheim began to look at the solidarity of society. He categorized them into two different types mechanical and organic solidarity. . (Ritzer 2004) I believe that Durkheim thought

Well known for his findings in the categories of people that were more likely to commit suicide and the way he viewed society and its connection, Emile Durkheim has had a great impact on the history of sociology. He is also known as the “Father of Sociology” since his works were based on research and theories on how society is formed and how it functions.

Emile Durkheim was a French sociologist in the late 1800s and early 1900s who came up with the concepts of social regulation and integration. These concepts have to do with the state of societies and how they work. More specifically, social regulation is the norms created by either formal laws or social pressure. The way people are expected to live and perform their daily tasks or jobs are somewhat decided by social regulation. In its most basic form, it’s what is and isn’t deemed acceptable by societies standards. Social integration on the other hand is the extent to which the group or society matters. This brings up the importance of the individual as opposed to the importance of the society. Strength of social ties within the community are big influences on how socially integrated a society is. These two concepts helped Durkheim better form an understanding for things such as suicide rates.

As organic solidarity is typical of complex, industrialised societies, Durkheim’s theory is very applicable to modern life and the first world in particular. Individuality is a major feature of people living in the western world today e.g. the USA, UK, and Ireland. This is evident in our political and social thinking. Much emphasis is placed on personal rights and the belief that nothing is more important than us. (Hughes et al, 1995) Meanwhile we are not self-sufficient; we rely heavily on the expertise of thousands globally to live our daily lives e.g. the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the cars we drive etc. (Macionis and Plummer, 2005)

Durkheim did not fetishize the economy in the way that Marx seemed to, who theorized it as a fundamental foundation of society, instead believing it to have no privileged position in the social system. Rather, he looked at the economy as being just one of many forces exerting its influence upon individuals and society. The economy is not the only structure exerting those influences; ideological factors also come into play such as religion, education, and culture which can also be highly determinant of social conditions.

An aspect of modernity that worried Durkheim was social bonds. Social bonds are seen as the bonds that holds a society together. It is clear that Durkheim believed the bonds holding society together at the time were fragile and becoming more fragile the more modern and industrialised society was becoming. He felt that this was an aspect that needed to change. Social bonds were stronger in certain parts of the city which mainly consisted of manual workers or rich people but in different parts of the city, social bonds were almost non-existent.

Emile Durkheim is other founding fathers of sociology.Emile Durkheim was a well-known sociologist well known for his perspectives on the structure of society. His work concentrated on how customary and present day social orders advanced and work. Durkheim's hypotheses were established on the idea of social actualities, characterized as the standards, values, and structures of a general public.

Durkheim too thought that societies were held together by the dependence that each person had on others. In the days of old many would bake their own bread, sew their own clothes, as well as grow their own vegetable and raise their own meat as time went on more and more people began to specialize in things that caused them to depend on others that had talents. Today we are even more dependent on others than ever. If our car breaks down, we call a mechanic. We go out to eat more than ever before, and many choose to utilize daycare for their children. Without these people to

In Durkheim’s view social order in an industrialised society depends on an acceptance of difference and co-operation between individuals and groups to the benefit of each individual.

Durkheim was one of the most influential sociologists in relation to the functionalist theories which stated society consisted of a structural consensus with a collective conscience of shared norms and values. He argued in order to establish the meaning of society one must understand the structures and social facts. He highlights changes in society from traditional societies which were linked with mechanical solidarity consisting of small scale ties with little division of labour. This in turn created a strong collective conscience of unity in comparison to modern society where differences amongst groups are promoted in turn weakening social solidarity. This is due to rapid changes within society in which Durkheim emphasises is due to a complex division of labour. Durkheim then argues that due to the combination of enlightenment notions and a capitalist society a collective conscience of individualism and greed is created. (Jones, Bradbury and Boutillier, 2011, pp.62-64)

Durkheim’s influence on macro sociological theory was that less developed societies allowed for a more common interest among all the residents and who shared beliefs and core values (Burke, 2015). With more modern

Essay Question: Why is the concept of social facts so significant for Durkheim’s work? Illustrate your answer with reference to at least one of his studies.

Émile Durkheim was born in France in 1858 to a Jewish family and started attending a rabbinical school at a young age but eventually decided not to continue on that path and instead became an agnostic. He eventually went on to become a philosophy teacher and is considered to have played a pivotal roll in the rise of sociology. Durkheim believed that society shaped every aspect of human thought and behavior. He promoted the importance of society and suggests that without it things like art, family, laws and morality could not exist. He insists that although we are all individual beings with the capability of making our own decisions, all of our life choices are made within a sociological structure provide to us from the day were are born. He believed these social ties were so important that we needed an entire discipline scientifically committed to understanding it. He wanted data to be collected, studied and compared. Thus the field of Sociology was born, and Durkheim considered the father of it. While attempting to understand the “social” Durkheim was continuously led back to “the religious.” Durkheim found that religion and society were absolutely synonymous and that one could not survive without the other stating, “If religion has given birth to all that is essential in society, it is because the idea of society is the soul of religion.”(191)

In this essay, we will talk about the French Sociologist Emile Durkheim and one of his theories. Emile Durkheim was born in 1858 in the city of Lorraine and is the architect of modern social science. One of Durkheim’s main theories was social solidarity, which is the cohesion of social groups. In Durkheim’s first major work The Division of Labor in Society Durkheim explained “how the division of labor (or economic specialization) characteristic of modern societies affects individuals as well as society as a whole” (pg. 110 Edies). Durkheim wanted to understand what held individuals and social groups together, he figured that if individuals or social groups did not have solidarity and moral cohesion then a society would not be able to exist.

Contradictions in nature, society, thinking, the struggle between people, classes, states - all this is a manifestation of conflicts. The subject of sociology in Max Weber is subjective, "attached" to man. Emile Durkheim has a different way of thinking. He declared social science the subject of the science of society, by which he understood norms, laws, values, representations of people, social institutions, organizations and ideas in general, materialized in the form of, for example, buildings and structures. Each generation of individuals finds their set of social facts, which determines the behavior of people. Emile Durkheim 's approach to the subject of sociology is objective, not dependent on a particular person 's character.