Transcript nonmaterial social facts.

Chapter 6 :Emile Durkheim
1858-1917
Chapter Outline
 I. Introduction
 II. Social Facts
 A. Material and Nonmaterial Social Facts
 B. Types of Nonmaterial Social Facts
 1. Morality
 2. Collective Conscience
 3. Collective Representations
 4. Social Currents
 C. Group Mind
 III. The Division of Labor in Society
 A. Biographical Sketch
 B. Mechanical and Organic Solidarity
 1. Table: The Four Dimensions of the Collective Conscience
 C. Dynamic Density
 D. Repressive and Restitutive Law
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E. Normal and Pathological
1. Anomic Division of Labor
2. Forced Division of Labor
F. Justice
IV. Suicide
A. The Four Types of Suicide
1. Egoistic Suicide
2. Altruistic Suicide
3. Anomic Suicide
4. Fatalistic Suicide
5. Table: The Four Types of Suicide
B. Suicide Rates and Social Reform
V.Criticism
A. Functionalism and Positivism
B. Other Criticisms
VI. Summary
Learning Objectives
1.explain what Durkheim meant by a social fact,
particularly the difference between material and
immaterial social facts;
2.discuss The Division of Labor (differentiate between
mechanical and organic solidarity; explain the role of
dynamic density in the transition from mechanical to
organic solidarity, and the different types of laws that
characterize each type of solidarity);
3.explain the methodological importance of
Durkheim's Suicide (his use of an historical,
comparative method to study suicide rates);
4.explain the four types of suicide in relation to
integration and regulation.
5.provide a critique of Durkheim's sociological theory.
a Biographical sketch
 Born in France on April 15, 1857
 Son of a rabbi(犹太教士)
 Was a Catholic for a short period of time
 Became an agnostic(不可知论者)
 in 1893The Division of Labor in Society was published;
 in 1895 The Rules of Sociological Method was
published;
 in 1897 Suicide: A Study in Sociology was published.
 in 1898 , he founded the journal L'annee scoiologique;
 In 1902 he was summoned to the famous French
university the Sorbonne,
 in 1906 he was named professor of the science of
education, a title that was changed in 1913 to
professor of the science of education and sociology.
 in 1912, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, was
published.
 Durkheim died on November 15,1917
I. Introduction
There are two main themes in the work of Emile
Durkheim.
The first is of the the priority social over the
individual. Durkheim recognized that society exists
beyond ourselves. Society is more than the
individuals who compose it: society has a life of its
own that stretches beyond our personal experiences)
the second is the idea that society can be
studied scientifically.
 For Durkheim, society is made up of "social facts"
that exceed out intuitive understanding and must be
investigated through observations and measurements.
These ideas are so central to sociology that Durkheim
is often seen as the "father" of sociology
II. Social Facts
According to Durkheim, social facts are the
subject matter of sociology. Social facts are
“sui generis” (meaning of its own kind;
unique) and must be studied distinct from
biological and psychological phenomenon
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.".
The character of social facts
A.External to the individual(social facts can be
studied empirically)
B.Coercive of the individual
C.General throughout
D.Independent(can be explained only by other
social facts.)
The types of social facts
Durkeim differentiated between two broad types of
social facts:
A.material social facts
 Material social facts, such as styles of architecture,
forms of technology, and legal codes, are the easier to
understand because they are directly observable.
B.nonmaterial facts.
More importantly, these material social facts often
express a far larger and more powerful realm of moral
forces that are at least equally external to individuals
and coercive over them. These are nonmaterial social
facts. Such as styles of morality,collective
conscience,collective representations,and social
currents.
1.morality
morality was at the foundation of sociology as a
discipline. Durkheim's view of morality had two
aspects.
First, Durkheim was convinced that morality is a
social fact, in other words, that morality can be
empirically studied, is external to the individual, is
coercive of the individual, and is explained by other
social facts.
Second, Durkheim was a sociologist of morality
because his studies were driven by his concern about
the moral "health" of modern society.
2. Collective Conscience (later
called Collective Representations)
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.
People are born into the collective conscience, and it
regulates their perceptions and behavior.
What Durkheim was denoting with the concept of
collective conscience, then, is that social systems
evidence systems of ideas, such as values, beliefs,
and norms, that constrain the thoughts and
actions of individuals.
In the course of his analysis of the collective
conscience, Durkheim conceptualized its varying
states as having four variables
Volume
Denotes the degree to which the values, beliefs, and rules
of the collective conscience are shared by the members of a
society
Intensity
Indicates the extent to which the collective conscience has
power to guide a person’s thoughts and actions
Determinateness
Denotes the degree of clarity in the components of the
collective conscience
Content
Pertains to the ratio of religious to purely secular symbolism
in the collective conscience
First, it is clear that Durkheim thought of the
collective conscience as occurring throughout a
given society when he wrote of the "totality" of
people's beliefs and sentiments.
Second, Durkheim clearly conceived of the
collective conscience as being independent and
capable of determining other social facts. It is
not just a reflection of a material base as Marx
sometimes suggested.
Finally, although be held such views of the
collective conscience, Durkheim also wrote of its
being "realized" through individual
consciousness.
According to Durkheim, the desires and selfinterests of human beings can only be held in
check by forces that originate outside of the
individual. Durkheim characterizes this
external force as a collective conscience, a
common social bond that is expressed by the
ideas, values, norms, beliefs, and ideologies of
a culture.
III. The Division of Labor in Society
In The Division of Labor, Durkheim
identifies two forms or types of solidarity,
which are based on different sources.
Mechanical solidarity is “solidarity which
comes from likeness and is at its
maximum when the collective conscience
completely envelops our whole conscience
and coincides in all points with it.”
1. Mechanical solidarity
Mechanical solidarity occurs in early societies in
which there is not much division of labor. Such
societies are relatively homogenous, men and
women engage in similar tasks and daily
activities, people have similar experiences. In
such societies the few distinct institutions
express similar values and norms and tend to
reinforce one another.
The norms, values, and beliefs of the
society (or the collective conscience) are
so homogenous and confront the
individual with such overwhelming and
consistent force, that there is little
opportunity in such societies for
individuality or deviance from this
collective conscience.
According to Durkheim, traditional cultures
experience a high level of social and moral
integration, there was little individuation,
and most behaviors were governed by
social norms which were usually embodied
in religion.
By engaging in the same activities and
rituals, people in traditional societies
shared common moral values, which
Durkheim called a collective conscience.
In these societies, people tend to regard
themselves as members of a group; the
collective conscience embraces individual
awareness, and there is little sense of
personal options
2. Organic solidarity
Organic solidarity develops as a byproduct of the division of labor. As society
becomes more complex, individuals play
more specialized roles and become ever
more dissimilar in their social experiences,
material interests, values, and beliefs
Individuals in such a sociocultural system
have less in common; however, they must
become more dependent upon each other
for their survival
The growth of individualism is an inevitable
result of the increasing division of labor,
and this individualism can only develop at
the expense of the common values,
morality, beliefs, and normative rules of
society—the sentiments and beliefs that
are held by all.
With the loosening of these common rules and
values we also lose our sense of community, or
identity with the group. The social bond is
thereby weakened and social values and beliefs
no longer provide us with coherent or insistent
moral guidance.
And this loosening lends itself to anomie. Again,
according to Durkheim, if an individual lacks any
sense of social restraint her self-interest will be
unleashed, she will seek to satisfy her own
appetites with little thought on the possible
effect her action will have on others.
Instead of asking “is this moral?” or “does
my family approve?” the individual is more
likely to ask “does this action meet my
needs?” The individual is left to find her
own way in the world—a world in which
personal options for behavior have
multiplied as strong and insistent norms
and moral guidelines have weakened.
Anomie (Definition)
When social regulations break down, the controlling
influence of society on individual propensities is no
longer effective and individuals are left to their own
devices. Such a state of affairs Durkheim calls anomie,
a term that refers to a condition of relative normlessness
in a whole society or in some of its component groups.
Anomie does not refer to a state of mind, but to a
property of the social structure. It characterizes a
condition in which individuals 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.
Anomic Division of Labor
Represents insufficient normative regulation of
individuals’ activities, with the result that
individuals do not feel attached to the
collectivity.
Anomie is inevitable when the transformation of
societies from mechanical to an organic basis of
social solidarity is rapid and causes the
“generalization,” or “enfeeblement,” of values.
With generalization, individuals’ attachment to,
and regulation by, values is lessened.
The results of this anomic situation are
diverse.
One result is that individuals feel alienated,
because their only attachment is to the
monotony and crushing schedule dictated by
the machines of the industrial age
Another is the escalated frustrations and the
sense of deprivation, manifested by increased
incident of revolt, that come in a state of
underregulation.
Unlike Marx, however, Durkheim did not
consider these consequences inevitable.
He rejected the notion that there were
inherent contradictions in capitalism, for if,
in certain cases, organic solidarity is not
all it should be . . . [it is] because all the
conditions for the existence of organic
solidarity have not been realized”
Social Solidarity or Social Integration
Again . . . .
The question of social solidarity, or integration, turns on
several related issues:
 How are individuals made to feel part of a larger social
collective?
 How are their desires and wants constrained in ways
that allow them to participate in the collective?
 How are the activities of individuals and other social
units coordinated and adjusted to one another?
IV :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
Two Types of Integration
Attachment
Attachment to social groups and their goals. Such
attachment involves the maintenance of interpersonal
ties and the perception that one is a part of a larger
collectively.
Regulation
Regulation by the collective conscience (values,
beliefs, and general norms) of social gatherings. Such
regulation limits individual aspirations and needs,
keeping them in check.
Suicide and Social Integration
Humans can potentially reveal unlimited desires
and passions, which must be regulated and
held in check.
Yet total regulation of passions and desires
creates a situation where life loses all
meaning.
Humans need interpersonal attachments and
a sense that these attachments connect them
to collective purposes.
Yet excessive attachment can undermine
personal autonomy to the point where life
loses meaning for the individual.
Social Forces
facts cannot explain such matters as the
influence of the calendar, economic But
facts like these cannot explain variations
in suicide rates among different racial,
ethnic, religious, and occupational groups.
Individualistic conditions,or social mobility
on suicide.
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
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.
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.
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.
Groups that have high suicide rates all have
in common a relative lack of cohesion, or a
condition of relative "normlessness."
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.
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.
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.
Protestantism "concedes a greater
freedom of individual thought than
Catholicism...it has fewer common beliefs
and practices."
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.
Durkheim reasoned:
Suicide everywhere
Often rates stable
Therefore normal
Sudden spurts “abnormal”
Social forces at work
SUICIDE: EGOISTIC
When men (and woman) are not
sufficiently integrated into social groups,
they are prone to egoistic 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 altruistic
suicide.
SUICIDE: ANOMIC
When the group fails to give the individual
enough regulation and guidance, men are
susceptible (easily influenced by feelings)
to succumbing (yield) to anomic suicide.
Egoism
(Integration Low)
Anomie
Fatalism
(Regulation Low)
(Regulation High)
Altruism
(Integration High)
assessment
Major Contributions:
Several major contributions to sociology:
Distinguishing and elaborating the field of sociology
from other social sciences
Emphasis on empirical data to lend support to
theoretical speculations
Focus on the division of labor and its consequences
for social life
Collective conscience or the need for a common core
of values and moral rules
Functionalism