This document provides a biography and overview of the major works and ideas of Emile Durkheim, a founding father of sociology. It notes that he was born in 1858 in France, studied philosophy and science, and went on to establish the first university course in sociology. Some of his most important works examined how societies transition from simple to complex forms held together by different types of solidarity. He is known for establishing sociology as a science and demonstrating how social forces can influence even individual acts like suicide.

2. Born on 15th
April, 1858 at
Epinal, France
Grew up in a
Jewish family--
his father was a
rabbi.
Went to the École
normale supérieure to
study Philosophy and
Science in 1879.
Graduated in 1882 and
began teaching the
subject in France
Appointed to the faculty of
the University of Bordeaux
and created the first
university course devoted to
sociology in 1887.
Recognized
throughout France as
one of the nation’s
leading innovative
thinkers

3. he decided to study
the subject that
Comte had called
‘sociology
He founded the
journal L’Année
Sociologique in 1898
appointed to the
faculty of the Sorbonne
in Paris, in 1902
married Louise Dreyfus,
and eventually have
two children
Believed that home was
the main instituion of
moral education as well as
his intelectual skills.
He died from a
stroke in 1917 at age
of 59

5. MAJOR
WORKS

7. How does society hold
itself together despite the
fact we all have different
interests?

9. SOCIAL FACTS are
“Sui Generis”
Latin for "of their own kind"
-Society is not just a collection of individuals,
but has its own characteristics independent of
the individuals who comprise it.
Social facts correspond to the conception or
experience that the group shares, not just an
individual’s thought or experience.
Social facts have constraining power.

11. SOCIAL
FACTS
control over
the individual
External to
Individual

13. How does
society hold itself
together despite the
fact we all have
different interests?

14. • refers to the ties in a society
or social relations that bind
people to one another.
• a feeling of unity between
people who have the same
interests, goals, etc.

15. •Shared beliefs
•Sentiments
Mechanical
Solidarity
•Specialization
•Interdependence
Organic
Solidarity

16. Mechanical Solidarity
Small Population
Minimum division of
labour
shared beliefs and
sentiments,
Repressive law
Traditional Society
Organic Solidarity
Large Population
Complex division of
labour
People begin to
specialized
Restitutive law
Modern Society

17. Society is in
the Individual The Individual
is in Society

19. -is the study of the forces that hold
society together.
described how SOCIAL ORDER was
maintained in societies based on two
very different forms of solidarity
(mechanical and organic), and the
transition from more "primitive"
societies to
advanced industrial societies.
The Division of Labours

20. He focused on the shift
in societies from a simple
society to one that is more
complex.
The Division of Labours
MECHANICAL
SOLIDARITY
ORGANIC
SOLIDARITY

21. He refers to the
weakening of solidarity by
the degeneration of social
bonds as a condition of
‘anomie.
The Division of Labours

22. Anomie – is a condition of instability
resulting from a breakdown of standards
and values or from a lack of purpose or
ideals.
It is the breakdown of social bonds
between an individual and the community
. According to Durkheim , When a
social system is in a state of anomie,
common values and common meanings
are no longer understood or accepted, and
new values and meanings have not
developed

23. Sociology, 12th Edition
by John Macionis
• Warned that modern society creates
anomie–A condition in which society
provides little moral guidance to
individuals
• Change from mechanical solidarity–
Social bonds based on common
sentiment and shared moral values
that are common among members of
preindustrial societies

24. • Durkheim’s most important reason for
studying suicide was to prove the power of
the new science of Sociology. Suicide is
generally considered to be one of the most
private and personal acts. Durkheim
believed that if he could show that
Sociology had a role to play in explaining
such an individualistic act as suicide, it
would be relatively easy to extend
Sociology’s domain to phenomena.
• In The Suicide, he identify four types of
suicide.
The Suicide

25. SUICIDE
Egoistic
Altuistic
Anomic
Fatalistic

30. Suicide: A Study In Sociology
Durkheim’s study does not
simply describe the suicide
rates in Europe in the nineteenth
century. Instead he begins with
the basic assumption that too
much or too little integration or
regulation (cohesion) is
unhealthy for a society, and
from this he derives specific
hypotheses about suicide.
(Wallace and Wolf 1999:23)

31. The Elementary Forms
Of Religious Life
 How people relate to these beliefs and
practices, and the function they serve in
society?
 analyzes religion as a social
phenomenon. Durkheim attributes the
development of religion to the emotional
security attained through communal living.

32. The Elementary Forms
Of Religious Life
DURKHEIM’S PURPOSE
1. to identify the social origin and function
of religion as he felt that religion was a
source of camaraderie and solidarity.
2. to identify links between certain religions
in different cultures, finding a common
denominator.
He wanted to understand the
empirical, social aspect of religion that is
common to all religions and goes beyond
the concepts of spirituality and God.

33. The Elementary Forms
Of Religious Life
A religion is a unified system of beliefs
and practices relative to sacred things, that
is to say, things set apart and forbidden –
beliefs and practices which unite into one
single moral community called a Church,
all those who adhere to them.
(Elementary Forms, p. 62

34. RELIGION
Sacred
It refers to the
extraordinary, that
which is set apart from
and “above and
beyond” the everyday
world.
Profane
Everyday utilitarian
activities

35. Durkheim distinguishes sociology from other
sciences and justifies his rationale.
Sociology is the science of social facts.
Durkheim suggests two central theses, without
which sociology would not be a science:
1.It must have a specific object of study.
2. It must respect and apply a
recognized objective scientific method, bringing
it as close as possible to the other exact
science.

37. He appoints out that in
attempting to identify a
‘pathological’ social condition
one must employ as a standard of
reference not some abstract
conception of the ideal state, but
empirical evidence of what is
‘normal’ in societies of the type
under consideration.
The Rules of Sociological
Method