Emile Durkheim (1857 – 1917) Sociology & Positivism How is Society Possible? Social Solidarity Society is possible because of or through social facts Contributions • Social Solidarity ‘The Division of labour in Society’-1893 • Social fact ‘The rules of Sociological Method’-1895 • Theory of suicide ‘Suicide’-1897 • Collective conscience • Anomie & DOL • Crime and punishment November 4, 20142/24/10 How does a society function? • • • • • Functionalism Social facts Theory of Suicide Division of labour ‘Anomie’ November 4, 20142/24/10 Functionalism • Functionalism emphasizes a societal equilibrium. • Society is a system of interrelated parts where no one part can function without the other. November 4, 20142/24/10 Theory of Social Facts November 4, 20142/24/10 Social Facts (Rules of Sociological Method, 1895) What are Social facts? “ sociology as a science of social facts”. • Manners of acting, thinking and feeling external to the individual, which are invested with a coercive power by virtue of which they exercise control over him / her Modes of behaviour Ways of behaving, feeling and thinking External to the individual Exercises a constraint Social Facts are things. Is Society a thing? (The rules of Sociological Method) “Things include all objects of knowledge that cannot be conceived by purely mental activity, those that require for their conception data from outside the mind, from observations & experiments, those which are built up from the more external & immediately accessible characteristics to the less visible and more profound”. November 4, 20142/24/10 “When I fulfil my obligations as brother, husband, or citizen, when I execute my contracts, I perform duties which are defined, externally to myself and my acts, in law and in custom. Even if they confirm to my own sentiments and I feel their reality subjectively, such reality is still objective, for I did not create them; I merely inherited them through my education”.. (Rules of Sociological Method). Characteristics: social facts do exist, they are the social reality of society, a reality that constitutes the proper study of sociology .The study of social facts is the “distinct object or subject matter of sociology”. “The sociologists must rid themselves of preconceptions and undertake objective study which can "focus on objective, external indicators such as religious doctrines or laws”. ‘Society as a factDurkheim’ • Sociology as a real science • Sociology is treated as part of Life sciences Biology Psychology Sociology • GENERAL SYSTEMS THEORY • Emerging property of an Organism • Organic metaphor • Social facts are real • Social facts have an objective reality November 4, 20142/24/10 Social facts are external to the individual • Social facts exercise a constraint on them. • For Durkheim, the study of sociology should be the study of social facts, attempting to find the causes of social facts and the functions of these social facts. (an independent existence greater and more objective than the actions of the individuals that compose society. Social facts exercise constraints on the individual Sanctions may be associated with social facts, for example as in religion, where resistance may result in disapproval from others or from spiritual leaders. Individuals may be unaware of social facts and generally accept them . In this case, individuals may accept the values and codes of society and accept them as their own. THEORY OF SUICIDE November 4, 20142/24/10 Durkheim’s Theory of Suicide Suicide as a major theory of social constraints relating to collective conscience. • Social factor is the real causes of suicide, • suicide is a highly individual act, the motives for suicide can be fully understood only by reference to the social context in which it occurs…. Types of suicide • Egoistic suicide (evolves from excessive individualism, lack of integration among the group & individual) • Altruistic Suicide (due to over-integration of the individual)… obligatory altruistic suicide • Anomic suicide (results from man's activities lacking regulation and his consequent sufferings). Social life all around seems to be destroyed, economic disaster & industrial crisis (Economic & Domestic anomie) • Fatalistic suicide Types of suicide corresponding to 3 psychological factors: • Egoistic suicide: by a state of apathy, an absence of attachment in life, • Altruistic suicide by a state of passion, • Anomic suicide- by a state of irritation & disgust . “Durkheim in his study of ‘suicide’ has been successful in establishing a social fact that there are specific social phenomena which govern individual phenomena. The most impressive, most eloquent example is that of the social forces which drive individuals to their deaths, each believing that he is obeying only himself”.. (Raymond Aron in Main currents in Sociological thought, Vol II, P-45).