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Sociological Theory
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
UMD


Outline of Lecture on Durkheim:

CHRONOLOGY OF DAVID EMILE DURKHEIM'S LIFE

BORN APRIL 15, 1858 AT EPINAL, VOSGE, LORRAINE, FRANCE, SON OF A RABBI
1874-5 GRANTED BACCALAUREATE (EG, HIS DIPLOMA)
1879 ADMITTED TO STUDY IN THE ECOLE NORMALE SUPERIEURE (3rd TRY AT AGE 21)
      Read Comte, Simon, and Spencer wrote on Montesquie
He then studied in Germany at Leipzig University 1887-1902 TAUGHT PHILOSOPHY (really pedagogy and moral education), SOCIOLOGY, FACULTY OF LETTERS, BORDEAUX
1887 MARRIED LOUISE DREYFUS, HAD A SON - ANDRE, & a DAUGHTER - MARIE;
1891-92 LECTURES ON RULE GOVERNED AUTHORITY WHICH WERE TO CULMINATE IN, THE DIVISION OF LABOR

Durkheim's most excellent works!!
  1. 1893 DIVISION OF LABOR IN SOCIETY
  2. 1894 RULES OF SOCIOLOGICAL METHOD
  3. 1897 SUICIDE
  4. 1896 BEGAN JOURNAL, ANNEE SOCIOLOGIQUE
  5. 1912 ELEMENTARY FORMS OF RELIGIOUS LIFE

1914 WORLD WAR I
1916 ONLY SON, ANDRE, KILLED IN THE WAR
     HE SUFFERS A STROKE
1917 NOV. 15, DURKHEIM DIES

(FOR A COMPLETE BIO. SEE STEVEN LUKES, "EMILE DURKHEIM: HIS LIFE AND WORK. A HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL STUDY; STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 1973)
"SOCIOLOGY MUST NOT BE A SIMPLE ILLUSTRATION OF READY-MADE AND DECEPTIVE TRUISMS; IT MUST FASHION DISCOVERIES WHICH CANNOT FAIL TO UPSET ACCEPTED NOTIONS." 1909
IDEAS DEVELOPED PRIOR TO 1888

I. SOCIOLOGY AS SCIENCE OF MORAL LIFE

A. USE OF ORGANIC ANALOGY
  1. SOCIETY COMES PRIOR TO INDIVIDUAL
  2. SOCIETY AS SOMETHING BEYOND EVERY PERSON
  3. PRODUCTION OF COLLECTIVE CONSCIENCE
    AS DURKHEIM STATES, "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 IT THE COLLECTIVE OR COMMON CONSCIENCE." ... "IT IS, IN EFFECT, INDEPENDENT OF THE PARTICULAR CONDITIONS IN WHICH INDIVIDUALS ARE PLACED; THEY PASS ON AND IT REMAINS." (PAGE 79-80 THE DIVISION OF LABOR IN SOCIETY.)
  4. INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE CONSCIENCE WILL DIFFER
  5. SOCIETY IS GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS THIS IS UNIQUE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
  6. SOCIOLOGY IS TO STUDY THE MORAL RULES AS PART OF THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION.
B. EARLY WRITINGS PRODUCE LASTING CONCERNS:

  1. IMPORTANCE OF IDEALS & MORAL UNITY FOR STABILITY
  2. INDIVIDUALS ARE SHAPED BY SOCIETY & ARE ACTIVE
  3. ATTACHMENT TO SOCIETY INVOLVES OBLIGATIONS, CONSTRAINTS AND COMMITMENT TO IDEALS (NORMS, VALUES, BELIEFS)
  4. PROPERTIES OF SOCIETY, PARTICULARLY THE CONSCIENCE COLLECTIVE, CANNOT BE DEDUCE FROM INDIVIDUALS
  5. FOUNDATIONS FOR THEORY OF ANOMIE
  6. THEORY OF RELIGION
II. METHODOLOGY

SOCIAL FACTS
"But in reality there is in every society a certain group of phenomena which may be differentiated from those studied by the other natural sciences. When I fulfill 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 I conform 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." (pg. 1 Rules of Sociological Methods)
CHARACTERIZED BY;
  1. EXTERNALITY - THEY CONSTITUTE A REALITY SUI-GENERIS OUTSIDE OF ANY PARTICULAR INDIVIDUAL
  2. CONSTRAINT - THEY POSSESS A POWER COERCION OVER THE INDIVIDUAL
  3. GENERALITY - THEY ARE POTENTIALLY UNIVERSAL, DIFFUSED WITHIN A GROUP
"Our definition will then include the whole relevant range of facts if we say: A social fact is every way of acting, fixed or not, capable of exercising on the individual an external constraint; or again, every way of acting which is general throughout a given society, while at the same time existing in its own right independent of its individual manifestations."
SOCIAL FACTS SHOULD BE EXPLAINED IN TERMS OF OTHER SOCIAL FACTS
INSTITUTIONS ARE SOCIAL FACTS; CRIME, SUICIDE

IS CRIME NORMAL?

FOUR TYPES OF SUICIDE

  1. EGOISTIC
    OUTGROWTH OF THE DIVISION OF LABOR AND THE "CULT OF INDIVIDUALISM"
  2. ANOMIC
    ALSO THE RESULT OF THE DIVISION OF LABOR, PROBLEMS IN THE STRUCTURE OF THE ORGANIC SYSTEM
  3. ALTRUISTIC
    AN ASPECT OF TRADITIONAL SOCIETIES OR TIGHTLY KNIT GROUPS; A BY-PRODUCT OF A STRONG CONSCIENCE COLLECTIVE
  4. FATALISTIC
    ASPECT OF OVERPOWERING SOCIAL CONTROL. YOU GIVE UP TO AUTHORITY SO COMPLETELY THE ONLY WAY OUT IS SUICIDE. IS THIS THE LAST ASPECT OF INDIVIDUALISM? NOT LIKELY, ALL INDIVIDUALISM IS GONE. SLAVE IN ANTIQUITY AND PERHAPS JEWS DURING THE HOLOCAUST? (found on page 276 as a footnote)
II. THE DIVISION OF LABOR IN SOCIETY.

INDUSTRIALIZED SOCIETY PRODUCES MIXED MESSAGES
BASIC QUESTION:

WHAT HOLDS SOCIETY TOGETHER? WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE INDIVIDUAL TO SOCIETY?

LIKE SMITH DIVISION OF LABOR APPEARS A NATURAL LAW, BUT WHAT NEEDS DOES IN ADDRESS? IS IT A MORAL LAW AS WELL AS NATURAL?

DURKHEIM MAINTAINS WE MUST LOOK AT THE CAUSE & EFFECTS OF THE GROWTH IN THE DIVISION OF LABOR

HOW DOES IT CONTRIBUTE TO SOCIAL INTEGRATION?

USE OF ORGANIC ANALOGY:
  1. SMALL SOCIETIES ARE LIKE SINGLE CELL ORGANISMS, LITTLE DIVISION OF LABOR
  2. INDUSTRIALIZED SOCIETIES ARE LIKE COMPLEX ORGANISMS, HIGHLY DEVELOPED DIVISION OF LABOR
TWO TYPES OF BONDS (THESE ARE EMOTIONAL)
  1. MECHANICAL SOLIDARITY (MORE CONCRETE)
  2. ORGANIC SOLIDARITY (MORE ABSTRACT)
THE ONLY WAY TO KNOW SOLIDARITY IS BY INDICATORS, AND AN IMPORTANT PIECE OF COHESION ITSELF
  1. REPRESSIVE LAW
  2. RESTITUTIVE LAW
WHAT ABOUT WHEN LAW AND CUSTOM DIVERGE?

WHAT BRINGS THE CHANGE FROM ONE TO THE OTHER?

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
INDEPENDENT VARIABLE TYPE OF LAW (INDEX)TYPE OF SOLIDARITYEFFECT ON PERSONALITY
LITTLE OR NO DIVISION OF LABOR REPRESSIVE LAW MECHANICAL SOLIDARITYCOLLECTIVE CONSCIENCE OVERWHELMS PERSONALITY
DIVISION OF LABORRESTITUTIVE LAWORGANIC SOLIDARITYVARIED PERSONALITIES DEVELOP



REFORMATION WALL IN GENEVA, SWITZERLAND




Emile Durkheim's grave in Paris.


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Copyright: © 2001, John Hamlin
Last Modified: Wednesday, 30-Oct-2013 11:19:36 CDT
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