What Does Durkheim Mean by Social Fact?

In the essay, “What is a Social Fact?” by Emile Durkheim, Durkheim argues that the subject area of sociology must be narrowed to a definable realm in order to differentiate it from other social studies. To do this, Durkheim posits that we must limit sociology to the analysis and study of “social facts” which he defines in two ways. The first definition that he gives to social facts is “every way of acting…capable of exercising on the individual an external constraint” such as our currency systems, utilization of languages, and many practices followed in one’s profession. Durkheim’s additional definition includes “every way of acting which is general throughout a given society, while at the same time existing in its own right independent of its individual manifestations.” These instances would include religious institutions, cultural traditions, and regional customs.

In Durkheim’s first definition, he uses the idea of a “social constraint” to identify the reasoning behind included actions being social facts. The constraint that he speaks of relates to the pressure that one feels to act or respond to external stimuli in a certain manner. There are varying degrees of pressure that may be felt, and in most cases they directly correspond to the repercussions of violating said social facts. In the lesser instances, such as moral maxims, the only repercussion is the knowledge that you are being watched and judged by those around you, which creates a sense of wrongdoing or guild when these moral maxims are violated. In greater cases, cultures designate legal punishments to deviations from social facts such as committing crimes. The social constraints hold a coercive power over an individual, but this coercion only manifests itself as one deviates from the social fact and becomes stronger in correspondence to the degree of deviation.

The second part of Durkheim’s definition takes a more general approach to social facts. It dictates that any general thoughts or actions within a society may be social facts as long as they fulfill the stipulation that they manifest themselves independently of the individual. To better understand this, Durkheim uses the term “social currents” which he describes as thoughts, emotions, or feelings that come over a crowd of people gathered together that is felt by all but originated by none. Their shared experience originates outside of the individual and exerts itself upon all of them, thus being independent of the individual. This phenomenon too has its own coercive effect. While the individual remains in the group and allows the shared experience to exert itself, they retain an “illusion of having created that which actually forced itself from without”. Once again, however, resistance is when the coercion is felt. If an individual attempts to deviate from the group emotion, they discover that the group emotion was not their own and they will find resistance from those gathered in attempting to display an emotion contrary to what the group feels.

In confirmation of his definition of a social fact, Durkheim implores us to consider a common experience that all humans share, which is the manner that children are raised in. The education of a child is a process in which ways of acting, thinking, and behaving are imposed upon them, which without this education they would not have discovered on their own. To this extent, “the aim of education is, precisely, the socialization of the human being.” This example confirms the existence of social facts in that education coerces an individual to think, act and behave in a manner that is not what they would have followed naturally. An individual feels a constraint to follow their education because to resist it would distance them from a society of which they are a part of and would limit their ability to function within said society. Thusly, Durkheim defines the scope of sociology while creating a unique way to look at common social institutions.

References

Durkheim, E. (1938). What is a Social Fact? In J. Wender (Comp.), The Intersections Collection (pp. 8-18). Boston, MA: Pearson Custom Publishing.