Emile David Durkheim

Durkheim
 The main thrust of Durkheim's overall
doctrine is his insistence that the study
of society must avoid reductionism and
consider social phenomenon "sui
generis."
Social Facts
 Social phenomena are "social facts"
and these are the subject matter of
sociology.
Social Facts
 Social facts are not only external to
individuals, but they are "endowed with
coercive power, by ...which they impose
themselves upon him, independent of
his individual will."
Social Facts
 A social fact (force) can be defined as
"every way of acting, fixed or not,
capable of exercising on the individual
an external constraints."
Social Facts
 The more mature Durkheim stressed
that social facts become effective
guides and controls of conduct only to
the extent that they become internalized
in the consciousness of individuals.
Social Facts
 According to this formulation, social
constraint is no longer the simple
imposition of outside controls on
individual will, but rather a moral
obligation to obey a rule.
Social Facts
 Social facts are not only phenomena
"out there" in the world of objects, but
are forces that the individual and the
social scientist come to know.
Social Facts
 Any social formation, though not
necessarily superior to its individual
parts, is different from them and
demands an explanation on the level
peculiar to it.
Social Facts
 Durkheim was concerned with the
characteristics of groups and structures
rather than with individual attributes of
people who make of these groups.
Social Facts
 He examined different rates of behavior
in specified populations and
characteristics of particular groups or
changes of such characteristics.
Social Forces
 For example, we believe we can
understand why Bryan Cadwallader
committed suicide by examining the
poor fellow's biography and psychology.
Social Forces
Social Forces
 After all, Bryan was
 The runt of his family
 Improperly toilet trained
 Prone to athlete's foot, bad breath and
dandruff
Bryan's
 Children hated him.
 Wife ran off with a traveling balloonist.
 Dog had bitten him the day he killed
himself.
The Suicide of Bryan
 But facts like these cannot explain
variations in suicide rates among
different racial, ethnic, religious, and
occupational groups.
 Individualistic facts cannot explain such
matters as the influence of the calendar,
economic conditions,or social mobility
on suicide.
Social Forces
 It is simply impossible to explain or
interpret the characteristics and
behavior of human groups on a
psychological or biological basis.
Social Forces
 Durkheim insisted that sociology is a
study of human social behavior, the
things we do and are, not because of
our biological organism, not because of
psychological conditioning, but because
we are a member of a society.
Social Forces
 Durkheim's basic assumption is that
much of what we do and are can only be
explained by reference to forces outside
of and beyond the individual.
 To put it another way, social forces are
emergent, which means "appearing as a
result of organization and unpredictable
from knowledge of the component parts."
Suicide
 In order to demonstrate the power of
social forces, Durkheim examined the
different rates of suicide in specific
groups and the characteristics of these
groups.
Suicide
 In order to explain regular differential
rates of suicide in various religious and
occupational groups, Durkheim studied
the character of these groups,
specifically, their ways of bringing about
cohesion and solidarity among their
members.
Suicide
 He hypothesized that a significant
increase of suicide rates in a particular
group indicates that the social cohesion
in that group has been weakened and
its members are no longer sufficiently
protected against crisis.
Suicide
 Groups that have high suicide rates all
have in common a relative lack of
cohesion, or a condition of relative
"normlessness."
Suicide
 Through an examination of secondary
data, Durkheim demonstrated that
suicide varies inversely with the degree
of integration.
 One of the major elements of integration
is the extent to which various members
of a group interact with one another.
Suicide
 Work activities that depend on
differentiated yet complementary tasks
bind workers to the work group.
 In collectivities where a high degree of
consensus exists over group values,
there is less behavioral deviance than in
groups with less consensus on values.
Suicide
 The stronger the credo of a religious
group, the more unified the group is
likely to be, and therefore better able to
provide an environment that will insulate
its members from frustrating
experiences.
Suicide
 Protestantism "concedes a greater
freedom of individual thought than
Catholicism...it has fewer common
beliefs and practices."
Suicide
 In the case of protestantism, we should
see higher rates of suicide (and other
deviant acts) not because of a lack of
integration, but as a response to the
group emphasis on autonomy and
individualism.
SUICIDE
 DURKHEIM REASONED:
 SUICIDE EVERYWHERE
 OFTEN RATES STABLE
 THEREFORE NORMAL
 SUDDEN SPURTS "ABNORMAL”
 SOCIAL FORCES AT WORK
SUICIDE: EGOISTIC
 WHEN MEN (AND WOMEN) ARE NOT
SUFFICIENTLY INTEGRATED INTO
SOCIAL GROUPS, THEY ARE PRONE
TO EGOISTIC SUICIDE.
SUICIDE: ANOMIC
 WHEN THE GROUP FAILS TO GIVE
THE INDIVIDUAL ENOUGH
REGULATION AND GUIDANCE, MEN
ARE SUSCEPTIBLE TO
SUCCUMBING TO ANOMIC SUICIDE.
SUICIDE: ALTRUISTIC
 WHEN THE GROUP IS OVERLY
STRONG IN ITS REGULATION OF
INDIVIDUALS, AND THE GROUP
"REQUIRES" SUICIDE, THE
INDIVIDUAL IS SUSCEPTIBLE TO
SUCCUMBING TO EGOISTIC
SUICIDE.
SUICIDE: ALTRUISTIC
Social Order
 DURKHEIM'S TREATMENT OF
ALTRUISTIC SUICIDE INDICATES
THAT HE WAS TRYING TO
ESTABLISH A BALANCE BETWEEN
THE CLAIMS OF INDIVIDUALS AND
THOSE OF SOCIETY.
Social Order
 ACUTELY AWARE OF THE DANGERS
OF THE BREAKDOWN OF THE
SOCIAL ORDER, HE ALSO REALIZED
THAT TOTAL CONTROL OF
INDIVIDUALS BY SOCIETY WOULD
BE AS DETRIMENTAL AS ANOMIE.
Solidarity
 Mechanical
 Organic
Mechanical Solidarity
 Mechanical solidarity prevails to the
extent that "ideas and tendencies
common to all members of the society
are greater in number and intensity than
those which pertain personally to each
member. This solidarity can grow only
in inverse ratio to personality."
Mechanical Solidarity
 "Solidarity which comes from likeness is
at its maximum when the collective
conscience completely envelops our
whole conscience and coincides in all
points with it."
Organic Solidarity
 In contrast, organic solidarity develops
out of differences, rather than
likenesses, between individuals. It is a
product of the division of labor.
Organic Solidarity
 WHILE INDIVIDUAL ELEMENTS OF
SUCH A SYSTEM HAVE LESS IN
COMMON, THEY ARE
NEVERTHELESS MUCH MORE
INTERDEPENDENT THAN UNDER
MECHANICAL SOLIDARITY.
SOLIDARITY
 EVEN THOSE SYSTEMS WITH
HIGHLY DEVELOPED ORGANIC
SOLIDARITY STILL NEED A
COMMON FAITH, A COMMON
"CONSCIENCE COLLECTIVE."
SOLIDARITY
 WITHOUT COMMON BOND,
DURKHEIM ARGUED, ANY SOCIETY
WAS BOUND TO DEGENERATE AND
DECAY.
INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETY
 "THE MORE ONE HAS, THE MORE
ONE WANTS, SINCE
SATISFACTIONS RECEIVED ONLY
STMULATE INSTEAD OF FILLING
NEEDS."
INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETY
 IT FOLLOWS FROM THIS NATURAL
INSATIABILITY OF THE HUMAN
ANIMAL THAT HER DESIRES CAN
ONLY BE HELD IN CHECK BY
EXTERNAL FORCES, THAT IS, BY
SOCIAL CONTROL.
INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETY
 WHEN SOCIAL REGULATIONS
BREAK DOWN, THE CONTROLLING
INFLUENCE OF SOCIETY ON
INDIVIDUAL DESIRES IS NO LONGER
EFFECTIVE AND INDIVIDUALS ARE
LEFT TO THEIR OWN DEVICES.
ANOMIE
 A CONDITION OF RELATIVE
NORMLESSNESS IN A WHOLE
SOCIETY OR IN SOME OF ITS
COMPONENT GROUPS.
ANOMIE
 ANOMIE CHARACTERIZES A
CONDITION IN WHICH INDIVIDUAL
DESIRES ARE NO LONGER
REGULATED BY COMMON NORMS
AND WHERE, AS A CONSEQUENCE,
INDIVIDUALS ARE LEFT WITHOUT
MORAL GUIDANCE IN THE PURSUIT
OF THEIR GOALS.
ANOMIE
 DURKHEIM'S PROGRAM OF STUDY,
THE OVERRIDING PROBLEM IN ALL
OF HIS WORK, CONCERNS THE
SOURCES OF SOCIAL ORDER AND
DISORDER.
CAUSES OF ANOMIE
 DIVISION OF LABOR
 SOCIAL CHANGE
Religion
 BEING CONVINCED THAT "SOCIETY
HAS TO BE PRESENT WITHIN THE
INDIVIDUAL," DURKHEIM WAS LED
TO THE STUDY OF RELIGION, ONE
OF THE FORCES THAT CREATED
WITHIN INDIVIDUALS A SENSE OF
MORAL OBLIGATION TO ADHERE TO
SOCIETY'S DEMANDS.
Religion
 ANOTHER MOTIVE FOR STUDYING
RELIGION WAS DURKHEIM'S
CONCERN WITH MECHANISMS
THAT MIGHT SERVE TO SHORE UP
A THREATENED SOCIAL ORDER.
 IN THE PAST RELIGION HAD BEEN
THE CEMENT OF SOCIETY. WHAT
NOW COULD HOLD IT TOGETHER?
Society and Religion
 TWO SPHERES of Social Life:
 PROFANE
 SACRED
 AN OBJECT IS INTRINSICALLY
NEITHER SACRED NOR PROFANE.
IT BECOMES SACRED ONLY WHEN
THE COMMUNITY MAKES IT SO.
 Religion
 SACRED ACTIVITIES ARE VALUED BY
THE COMMUNITY OF BELIEVERS NOT
AS MEANS TO ENDS, BUT BECAUSE
THE RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY HAS
BESTOWED THEIR MEANING TO THEM
 RELIGION IS "AN EMINENTLY
COLLECTIVE THING." IT ALSO BINDS
MEN TOGETHER.
Religion
 RELIGION IS NOT ONLY A SOCIAL
CREATION, BUT IT IS IN FACT
SOCIETY DIVINIZED. GOD IS
SOCIETY; SOCIETY IS GOD!
 THIS POWER SO TRANSCENDS THEIR
OWN EXISTENCE THAT PEOPLE HAVE
TO GIVE IT SACRED SIGNIFICANCE IN
ORDER TO VISUALIZE IT.
Religion
 HE URGED MEN TO UNITE IN A
CIVIC MORALITY BASED ON THE
RECOGNITION THAT WE ARE WHAT
WE ARE BECAUSE OF SOCIETY.
Religion
FUNCTIONALISM
 DURKHEIM SEPARATED
FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS FROM TWO
OTHER ANALYTICAL PROCEDURES:
THE QUEST FOR CAUSATION AND
THE PROBING OF INDIVIDUAL
PURPOSES AND MOTIVES.
Functionalism
 "WHEN...THE EXPLANATION OF A
SOCIAL PHENOMENON IS
UNDERTAKEN WE MUST SEEK
SEPARATELY THE EFFICIENT
CAUSE WICH PRODUCES IT AND
THE FUNCTION IT FULFILLS.
Functionalism
 "WE MUST DETERMINE WHETHER
THERE IS A CORRESPONDENCE
BETWEEN THE FACT UNDER
CONSIDERATION AND THE
GENERAL NEEDS OF THE SOCIAL
ORGANISM..."
Functionalism
 "THE DETERMINATION OF FUNCTION
IS...NECESSARY FOR THE COMPLETE
EXPLANATION OF THE PHENOMENA...”
 "TO EXPLAIN A SOCIAL FACT IT IS NOT
ENOUGH TO SHOW THE CAUSE ON
WHICH IT DEPENDS; WE MUST ALSO,
AT LEAST IN MOST CASES, SHOW ITS
FUNCTION IN THE ESTABLISMENT OF
THE SOCIAL ORDER."
INDIVIDUAL MOTIVES
 INDIVIDUAL MOTIVES SEEMED TO
DURKHEIM TO BE OF ONLY
PERIPHERAL IMPORTANCE FOR
SOCIOLOGICAL INQUIRY.
Historical Causation
 THE QUEST FOR ORIGINS AND
HISTORICAL CAUSES, HOWEVER,
WAS TO DURKHEIM AN ESSENTIAL
AND LEGITIMATE PART OF THE
SOCIOLOGICAL ENTERPRISE.
Functionalism
 SOCIAL INVESTIGATORS MUST
COMBINE THE SEARCH FOR
EFFICIENT CAUSES AND THE
DETERMINATION OF THE
FUNCTIONS OF A PHENOMENON.
Functionalism
 THE CONCEPT OF FUNCTION
PLAYED A KEY PART IN ALL OF
DURKHEIM'S WORK.
 DURKHEIM SAW CRIME AS NORMAL
IN TERMS OF ITS OCCURRENCE, AND
EVEN AS HAVING POSITIVE SOCIAL
FUNCTIONS IN TERMS OF ITS
CONSEQUENCES FOR THE SYSTEM.
Functionalism
 THE FUNCTIONS OF CRIME:
 SOCIAL FLEXIBILITY
 NORMATIVE CONSENSUS
 DRAWS THE BOUNDARIES
Functionalism
 DURKHEIM MOVES FROM THE
SEARCH FOR EFFICIENT CAUSES
TO INQUIRIES INTO THE
CONSEQUENCES OF PHENOMENA
FOR THE STRUCTURES IN WHICH
THEY ARE IMBEDED.