David Emile Durkheim was born on April 15, 1858 in Lorraine, France. He was born into a family of Jews whose father and grandfather held the position of a rabbi. (About Sociology, p. 1) During his academic years, Durkheim became known as an outstanding intellect, receiving various awards and accolades for his academics and attending one of the prestigious scholarly schools in France called Ecole Normale. Within this school, great minds collaborated as some of the greatest philosophers, intellectuals and political figures were being trained. (About Sociology, p. 1) While there, his interest in social phenomenon was sparked. After graduating school, he received a scholarly position in Bordeaux and taught social science. He also developed such books as Rules of the Sociological Method, The Division of Labor and Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. His philosophy and pursuit of understanding how society interconnected prompted him to become the founder of modern sociology. (About Sociology, p. 1) Durkheim placed emphasis on sociology as the science of social progress above all other scientific knowledge.
Durkheim’s Philosophy
One of Durkheim’s theories focused on how society interconnected, sustaining its honor and consistency. Durkheim “…was one of the first people to explain the existence and quality of different parts of a society by reference to what function they served in keeping the society healthy and balanced – a position that would come to be known as functionalism.” (About Sociology, p. 2) Functionalism is a system held together and maintained, not by vital connections but by services of parts to each other and to the whole. The function of society is what contributes to the whole of society. According to functionalism, the main task of sociology was to study such relationships.
During this time (the 1800’s), there appeared to be a naturalistic view of society. Human events had natural causes. There were limited attempts to comprehend human social systems. Human social conflicts (ie. war, marital satisfaction) can be ascribed to social conditions. Social scientists tend to find the answers to human social concerns in the social nature of man himself and his relation to others. One of the representatives of this view who steered away from individualism was Emile Durkheim. From Durkheim’s perspective, the causes of social conditions cannot be understood within a closed vacuum independent of the condition in which it occurs. His views presented controversy since it was common for scientists to discuss causes of conflict, laying emphasis on individualism. Man’s existence however cannot be viewed in isolation but looked upon within social systems. This view was contradictory to individualism because it focused on a web of human social interrelations. In other words, Durkheim examined social order, “…not on what motivates the actions of individual people…but rather on the study of social facts, a term which he coined to describe phenomena which have an existence in and of themselves and are not bound to the actions of individuals.” (About Sociology, p. 1)
In the area of religion, Durkeim attributed sacred principles to social rather than religious factors. Durkheim indicated that religion is a primal form of sociology. Although Durkheim grew up in the orthodox Jewish religion, at the time he was an agnostic. However despite this mentality, Durkheim’s thought process interpreted morality as a symbolic representation of social forces. In other words, the foundation of religion and ethics exists in the collective mind of society and not in the secluded thoughts of individuals.
Durkheim’s interpretation of religion was indeed controversial for that time period. However what’s amazing about Durkheim is how he was able to legitimize the nature of social order and its impact on morality. Because morality and religious thought were principles closely connected, primitive religious thought appeared interesting to a sociologist. Within modern society, the relationship between moral order and religious practice is shaky, but this does not lessen the value of examining moral force as a means of comprehending human social nature.
“But if there is one fact that history has irrefutably demonstrated it is that the morality of each people is directly related to the social structure of the people practicing it. The connection is so intimate that, given the general character of the morality observed in a given society and barring abnormal and pathological cases, one can infer the nature of that society, the elements of its structure and the way it is organized.” (Durkheim, 1961, p. 87)
In his work titled The Division of Labor in Society, Durkheim “…focused on the division of labor and examined how it differed in traditional societies and modern societies.” (About Sociology, p. 2) Within a society that focuses on capitalism, Durkheim evaluated how individualism could be upheld. Durkheim indicates “…that it is necessary that the collective conscience leave room for the individual conscience so that special functions may be established, functions which it can not regulate.” (Durkheim and Weber, 1)
Finally with regard to his theories on suicide and its relation to social forces, the question for Durkheim was whether or not there were social influences found in this very personal and individual act. For we know that suicide is considered a selfish and individualistic act. Durkheim even gave way to this suggestion in Suicide, A Study in Sociology (1951).
“But is [suicide] of interest to the sociologist? Since suicide is an individual action affecting the individual only, it must seemingly depend exclusively on individual factors, thus belonging to psychology alone. Is not the suicide’s resolve usually explained by his temperament, character, antecedents and private history?” (p. 46)
However Durkheim suggested that outside social factors could have an effect on suicide. Perhaps climate or season changes might determine if self-destruction occurs. Another suggestion for suicide could be that individuals feel so closely connected with society and closely tied with social groups, so much so that they will give up their life for it. He regarded this type of suicide as altruistic suicide.
Another way in which he related suicide to social systems is in the state of anomie in which there exists a “…breakdown of social norms regulating behavior. From a state of anomie come all forms of deviant behavior, most notably suicide.” (About Sociology, p. 3) He referred to this type of suicide as anomic suicide. In this state, the person feels separated from the standard influences of society and finds life unbearable. The result is self-inflicted death.
Overall, although the social world is that of an invisible world, Durkheim was able to find life affected by the reality of social forces. Durkheim broadened the field of sociology and developed it into a valid science. His philosophies were considered influential in the field of sociology.
Sources:
About Sociology. Emile Durkheim. (Accessed 9/13/2010)
Durkheim, Emile. Moral Education: A Study in the Theory and Application of the
Sociology of Education. New York: Free Press of Glencoe, 1961
Durkheim, Emile. Suicide: A Study in Sociology. New York: Free Press of Glencoe, 1951
Durkheim, Emile and Weber, Max. Division of Labor. (Accessed 9/13/2010)
