Emile Durkheim (1858 - 1917).
Emile Durkheim (1858 - 1917) The focus of this essay will be to explore and study the methodological contributions Emile Durkheim put towards sociology. One of the three "Founder Fathers" of sociology, Emile Durkheim was the first French academic to explore the contributions towards the French society. His life was highly dominated and originated from his academic years, which made him very passionate and strongly involved in the lives of the French society. The other two "Founder Fathers" of sociology were Marx Weber and Karl Marx. But the main focus of this essay is on Emile Durkheim and how his work and life contributed towards sociology. The essay will briefly outline the background of Emile Durkheim and follow on by discussing his theory on suicide and religion. Emile Durkheim was born to a Jewish family and shortly after the traditional Jewish confirmation at the age of 13, Durkheim turned away from all religious participation and became an agnostic. Thus having no religion phenomena and just believed in the superior being. Durkheim was a bright individual and was academically knowledgeable which led him to do very well throughout his educational years. Due to his hard work Durkheim gained admission in the university of "Ecole Normale" in 1879. It was from here Durkheim and his fellow mates would make a mark on the intellectual life of the people of France.
Emile Durkheim - suicide
Emile Durkheim was a sociologist who contributed a lot in sociology. His major studies were the study of social facts, division of labor, study of suicide and elementary forms of religious life. Durkheim was more focus on society than the actions of individuals. He separated sociology from philosophy, and he claimed that sociology is always studied through experiment, investigation and empirically. Moreover, he separated sociology and psychology too. He claimed that sociology is an external constrain rather then an internal drive. He used social facts to describe society phenomenon and claimed that society can only be explained by social facts. He thought that phenomena is not bounded to the action of individuals. He used to think scientifically and he set up a theory from science's view. Durkheim had four major studies. First, he thought that social facts can only explained by social facts. He studied material social facts and non material social facts. Material social facts is directly observable, such as, population and legal codes. The non-material social facts is moral forces that are at least equally external to individuals, such as, values and norms. Morality is intimately related to
Emile Durkheim
SAMOUBOJSTVO - SOCIOLOŠKA STUDIJA Kako bismo definirali samoubojstvo? Duboki,intimni, osobni i pojedinacni cin, ujedno i društvena pojava, posljedica poremecenih odnosa pojedinca i društva. Problem je zaokupljao mnoge filozofe i mislioce vec niz stoljeca jer suditi o tome ima li smisla živjeti, znaci odgovoriti na osnovno pitanje filozofije (A.Camus - Mit o Sizifu). Sociološka literatura o problemima samoubojstva izuzetno je raznovrsna i slojevita. Sociolog koga je ta tema zaokupljala dugi niz godina zove se Emile Durkheim (1858.-1917.). Kao rezultat dugogodišnjeg rada potkrijepljenog vrlo cvrstim i konzistentnim argumentima nastalo je djelo "Samoubojstvo-sociološka studija" u kojem koristi komparativnu analizu kod proucavanja razlicitih grupa.U svojem istraživanju prvi je uporabio statisticke metode za obradu rezultata. Samoubojstvom se naziva svaka smrt koja proistice posredno ili neposredno iz nekog pozitivnog ili negativnog cina koji vrši sama žrtva znajuci da taj cin mora dovesti do tog rezultata. Ako promatramo samoubojstvo ne iz individualnih cinjenica, vec kao skup u datom društvu kroz odredenu vremensku jedinicu, utvrdit cemo da cini sui generis cinjenicu koja je u najvišem stupnju društvena. Evolucija samoubojstva se sastoji od razlicitih i uzastopnih valova, koji se razvijaju izvjesno vrijeme, pa se zaustavljaju da bi ponovno poceli. Svako
The life and works of Emile Durkheim
Book Review The life and works of Emile Durkheim Tutor: Anne Beaumont Zi-Han Su This book is written by Dr Lukes, he in this book analyses Durkheim's life, ideas and theories. Dr Steven Lukes is a fellow and tutor in Sociology and Politics at Balliol College, Oxford. Dr Lukes in the introduction gives us an understanding of Durkheim's ideas and to form critical judgements about their value. He evaluates how Durkheim saw the world, how his ideas relate to each other and how they developed in time. On the other hand the book seeks the knowledge on how valuable and valid these ideas are, what are the explanations behind his findings and how they stand up in modern day present value. This essentially biographical book of Durkheim allows one to give full weight to the historical context of his ideas, the influences that helped to mould them and the criticisms to which they were subjected. The introduction expands to the many faces (sides) of Durkheim. There is the sociologist Durkheim, the Durkheim of anomie theory and of suicide studies, the criminologists' Durkheim and the social psychologists Durkheim. Lukes describes him in the introduction as a "materialist and a idealist, a positivist and a metaphysician, a rationalist and an irrationalist, a dogmatic atheist and a mystic... a conservative and a socialist" (cited in Lukes 1977) The introduction of this book finishes
Emile Durkheim saw sociology as the study of social facts.
Emile Durkheim saw sociology as the study of social facts. He was born in 1858 and died in 1917. He was born in Epinal, France. He studied social and political philosophy at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, reading deeply into the works of Montesquieu and Rosseau. He also studied for a year in Germany. He taught educational theory at Bordeaux from 1887 to 1902, after which he moved to a professorship at the Sorbonne in Paris. He made a close, but critical study of the work of Comte, and he produced a number of exemplary sociological studies. In 1913, only four years before his death, he was allowed to call himself Professor of Sociology. Durkheim's key works appeared regularly and became the basis of a distinctive school of sociology. One of his major writings was Suicide: A Study in Sociology (1987). Unlike most others before him who believed that influences such as inherited mental disorder are of paramount importance in causing suicide, Emile Durkheim chose to look instead at suicide purely as a social fact, rather than the act of an individual. Through analysis of government figures on suicide rates, Durkheim tried to measure and explain suicide as social phenomena. In his book, "Suicide: a study in sociology", Durkheim was critical of both physical and psychological explanations of suicide as he claimed that neither accounted for the stability of suicide
Critically examine the contribution of Emile Durkheim to the scientific study of society.
Critically examine the contribution of Emile Durkheim to the scientific study of society. David Emile Durkheim was a brilliant sociologist , born in 1858 in France and made his great contribution to sociology with his four major works: the division of labor in society(1893), the rules of sociological method(1895), suicide(1897) and the elementary forms of the religious life(1912)(Jones,1986 ). There were two main theories influenced Durkheim's works significantly. Firstly, Comte's perspective on scientific methodology helped Durkheim to investigate society with scientific method; secondly, the expression of debates on the problem of individualism in France after the revolution (Morrison, 1995). Auguste Comte was a French philosopher who held the view of positivism, mainly influenced Durkheim's works (Craib, 1997). Comte stated the definition of positivism as a scientific movement in the purpose of extending the range of investigation with scientific method to the study of society (Morrison, 1995). Another concept in Comet's work is society as a whole, which also influenced Durkheim significantly. 'Society as a whole' means that every part of a society should be seen and studied as a whole and associated with all other parts of the society-individuals can not be separable from society (Craib, 1997). Despite the theories mentioned above, Durkheim intended to differentiate
Suicide - A Study in Sociology with reference to Emile Durkheim
Emile Durkheim is known for many sociological theories and concepts, such as social solidarity, which although seen in his study of suicide, exists independently of it. However, he is most famed for his classic methodological - and rather positivist - work, Suicide: A Study in Sociology (First published in 1897). The dictionary definition of suicide is "the intentional killing of oneself" (Marshall, 1998). However, Durkheim believed that it took more than this to properly define this action, stating, "...suicide is applied to all cases of death resulting directly or indirectly from a positive or negative act of the victim himself, which he knows will produce this result." (Durkheim, 1978, p 44). By positive acts, he meant taking a course of action that was definitely intended to produce death, such as a huge overdose. Negative acts referred to a lack of a distinct action that would ultimately result in death (as the individual would be aware), such as starving oneself. Many argue that both this type of definition and Durkheim's vast use of statistics generalised what is typically regarded as the most individual of acts. Various criticisms and support of Suicide will be discussed later. However, Steve Taylor points out that the great majority of studies on suicide since Suicide have been significantly "shaped" by the work of Durkheim. (Taylor, 1982). Durkheim was
Positivism: "Love, Order, Progress" - Auguste Comte (1795 - 1857) and Emile Durkheim (1858 - 1917)
Positivism: "Love, Order, Progress" - Auguste Comte (1795 - 1857) and Emile Durkheim (1858 - 1917) The impulse to think critically and seriously about how the social world is made and continues in being is strongest in times of social crisis. Thomas Hobbes claimed to have founded the science of political analysis. His was a great and original contribution but we should not forget that he was one of hundreds of thinkers at that time who all cogitated on similar fundamental problems: If the king is dead who or what is the source of authority in society? If I put myself first, how is society possible? Hobbes was writing during the English Civil War and after, and that profound political and economic transformation stimulated the production of thousands of pamphlets and books discussing the versions of this problem, which has been called in sociology the problem of order. Hobbes proposed that there should be in society some unquestionable source of authority and power - the Leviathan - that guaranteed the basics of security and law. Without it men would simply follow their appetites and aversions, their wants and fears, and their would be in consequence the "war of all against all" and "which is worst of all, continuall feare, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, brutish and short." Hobbes himself had experienced social change and
Emile Durkheim was interested in the transformation of society; he tried to understand and explain social change.
Emile Durkheim was interested in the transformation of society; he tried to understand and explain social change. Within Durkeims first book Division of Labour in society 1893 he conceived the divisions of labour within society as the most basic presedenting fact, and that rapid changes within the division of Labour would lead to a disruption of "Social Solidarity". He argued that changes in the division of Labour would result in the decline of beliefs and values, and changes would occur from tridional stable communities to a more complexed society with different needs and goals. Despite he concerns he remind optimistic and for this reason was labeled a positive. It could be argued that Durkeims experience of living in France and experiencing the changes within industries and the French revolution enabled him to witness what he perceived to be the breakdown of tridional instions and the decline of systems of authority and morality***. Therefore creating a loss of security for members of the community. New ideas of indridualms, socialism, democracy and "humanism came to the surface. This could have promoted Durkheim to adopt a collectivist approach to characterize and understand social change. Within Division of Labour Durkeim referred to Social Solidarity as a bond between indriduals within society (Division of Labour 1893). Within his first work he considered social
Functionalist approaches in sociology derive mainly from the work of Emile Durkheim at the end of the nineteenth century.
Sociology Essay Functionalist approaches in sociology derive mainly from the work of Emile Durkheim at the end of the nineteenth century. He believed societies were held together by shared values and economic interdependence. There is always according to Durkheim, the possibility of collapse of society if the values are not constantly reaffirmed and passed on from one generation to the next. Therefore the maintenance of values is a crucial function of society. According to Durkheim, furthermore there are two important elements to understand crime, which can be seen as contradictory. A limited amount of crime is necessary and beneficial to society, so much so that society could not exist without some form of deviance. However, too much crime is bad for society and can assist to bring about its collapse. Thus the amount of crime determines what is beneficial or destructive for society. Marxists argue that society is dominated and controlled by those who own the 'commanding heights' of industry, commerce and finance. They believe the definition of what is criminal reflects the dominant social values. Causing the death of another person while in a fit of temper, for example, during a street brawl, is regarded as murder. Yet the death of a factory worker due to their work environment is, at worst, worthy of a fine. One result of this ideological manipulation is that the law is
