EMILE DURKHEIM, 1858-1917
LIFE AND CHILDHOOD
 One
of the BIG THREE in Sociology
 Born in France April 15, 1858
 Son of a Rabbi
 Raised in strict Jewish fashion
 Became agnostic (God is unknown and probably
unknowable)
CONCEPTS & CONTRIBUTIONS

Labeled as
 “Founder
of Modern Sociology
 “Father of Functionalism”
 “Father of French Sociology”
 First Full Professor of Sociology
 (Founder of bad haircut club)
MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS

Several major contributions to sociology:
 Distinguishing
sociology from philosophy
 Emphasis on use of empirical data (facts)
 Focus on the division of labor and its consequences
 Collective conscience
 Mechanical versus Organic society
 NORMs/Core values and moral rules
 SUICIDE (most famous)
SOCIAL FACTS
Social facts make up sociology. Social facts must
be distinct from psychological (What goes on in
your head versus what can be monitored by
others)
Give examples please
SOCIAL FACTS
Social facts can be defined as patterns that
control our behavior (Law LIKE – English
grammar example)
 Guides and controls of behavior are made up
be group, not individuals
 Can’t be ignored
 What are consequences of ignoring?

SOCIAL FACT
“A social fact is identifiable through the power
which it exerts upon individuals”
(Durkheim, [1895] 1982, p. 56).
Enforced by masses
SOCIAL FACTS
Through socialization and education these
rules become internalized in the individual.
 Moral obligations to obey social rules.
 Other EXAMPLES?



http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Emile
_Durkheim.jpg
“Man's characteristic
privilege is that the bond
he accepts is not
physical but moral; that
is, social”
Based on social norms
DIVISION IN LABOR/SOLIDARITY
 Mechanical
 Barter
 Organic
Solidarity - Primitive societies
and primitive communalism
Solidarity - Modern societies
 Specialization
of people
 A need for the services of others
 Think of society as a human body
(each part contributes to the whole - organic)
Mechanical Solidarity = Primitive societies
Small populations (>100)
 No need for money, police, government
 Might be chief or primitive democracy
 All resources shared (Apache model)

Division of labour based on gender and
age:
1)women gather
2) men hunt
3) old care for children
Organic Solidarity - Modern societies
Highly organized division of labour
 Specialization of people
 A need for the services of others
 Need government
 Need police
 Commodities exchange
complex - need currency
 Trade expands
 ANOMIE arises (Marx ran)

SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF SPECIALIZATION
 Values

and norms change
 Jobs become obsolete, others created
 Deviance increases and may become “enculturated”
(“Gangsta” Hip-hop music in commercials
subcultures emerge (Hippies, Punks, Hip-hop, gangs)
but eventually become CO-OPTED
Means they become “mainstream” (available to all)
 Example 1 – “Right on” was an expression of
black solidarity in 1960’s (counter-culture)
 BIC pen company co-opts slogan
“write on”
Example 2 – “DIY” (do it yourself)
 Punk fashion based on making own clothes
 High end stores begin selling DIY clothes
Leads to “Mall punk”
COLLECTIVE CONSCIENCE

“The totality of beliefs and sentiments common
to average citizens of the same society forms a
determinate system which has its own life; one
may call the collective or common conscience.”
•We all need to get married, right?
•Drugs are BAD!
•We NEED to go to college
•Trade jobs (plumber, electricians) are for losers
•Girls who wear skimpy clothes are sluts
•OTHERS?
ANOMIE
Lack of “Normal”
 “Moral vacation” in immigrants (MAFIA)
 Leads to depression, suicide, crime
 Social breakdown
 Alienation (alone surrounded by people)


Topic of Dostoyevsky’s works, Camus’
“L’etranger”, Becket’s “Waiting for Godot”
COLLECTIVE CONSCIENCE
Primitive societies
 Laws
are harsh, intense, rigid,
and universally shared.
 Law is repressive and the deviant is severally
is punished

COLLECTIVE CONSCIENCE
Modern societies
 Laws
are less harsh, less punitive, less
intensely felt, and less shared.
 Punishment is enforced by issuing fines
OR ? ? ? ? ?
COLLECTIVE CONSCIENCE

Agents of socialization (norms/moral facts)
 Institutions
teach norms
 Family
 Religion
 Occupation

The more division in labor, the more
individualism becomes the moral compass
of modern society
PART II

Watch “The Wire” before going on”
METHODOLOGY

Sociology grew from philosophy and
must separate itself and become a science

Social Phenomenon should be
studied empirically using the
scientific method
METHODOLOGY
“facts . . . given in experience”
 Anti-psychology (anti-individualist) in his cannot
“deduce society from the individual”
 “Method of Covariation” (Correlation statistical relationship between two random
variables or two sets of data). Both happen at
the same time NOT CAUSALITY!
 Social facts - 'legal rules, moral obligations,
popular proverbs, social conventions' 'have a
permanent existence and do not change

SOCIAL FACTS = MORALITY
Moral ideas and sentiments are to be
preserved but historical bonds with religion
must be broken.
 Educational institutions and wider society
should forge and create a new sense of
morality

FUNCTIONALISM
Society is sum total of the large number of
persons, groups, organizations and social
institutions.
 Society is a system, and its parts contribute to
its stability and continued existence.
 Parts of the society are interconnected and try
to meet the demands of each of the parts.

CRIME
Durkheim’s view of crime was that it serves as
a function to help unite society's' members.
 Crime shocks the conscience collective
 Punishment of violators reminds society as a
whole to not risk deviating from the law
 Punishment also reaffirms the sense of
morality within a society

CRIME

Crime and Law
A
society of Mechanical Solidarity is characterized
by repressive law and crime would be punished
severely
 A society of Organic Solidarity is characterized by
trying to reintegrate the criminal back into society
after treatment
ANOMIE & CRIME
anomie = too rapid population growth reduces
amount of interaction between various groups,
which in turn leads a breakdown norms &
values.
 By forced division of labor LEADS to power
holders, desire for profit (greed), results in
people doing work they are unsuited for.
 Such people are unhappy, and their desire to
change the system destabilizes society.

FUNCTIONAL DEVIANCE AS CRIME)
serves a social function.
 "not only that the way remains open to
necessary changes but that in certain cases it
directly prepares these changes.“
 Crime "served to prepare a new morality and
faith that the Athenians needed".
 Crime "was a useful prelude to reforms”
 Example – accepted that kids could be hit
 A few parents killed kids before it was acrime
