Transcript Durkheim`s Ideas

 Born April 1858
 Jewish section of Epinal, France
 Family: Close-knit
 Not wealthy but respected

Hey Hey Durkheim
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgA41FMY0oQ
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxVImdGYu3I
 Functionalism
 1887 first faculty appointment
 1st Sociology course
 Chair: Dept. of Social Sciences
 1896-1902 (University of Bordeaux)
 Married, 2 children
 (Son, Andre died in WWI)
 Died at 59
 Rapid industrialization
 Conflict: Workers and Owners
 Paris Commune (1871)
 Workers seized Paris
 Established egalitarian republic
 Government destroyed commune
 Killed 20,000 working-class people
 History of Political Instability
 Monarchy of Louis XVI
 French Revolution (1789)
 Dictatorship of Napoleon I (1799-1815)
 Restoration of Bourbon monarchy
 Bourbons overthrown (1830)
 Durkheim lived in 3rd Republic
 People had lost moral unity
 Remnants of previous governments
 People supported:
 Democracy
 Monarchy
 Socialism
1) Instability
 Economic
 Political
2) Violence
 Workers & employers
 Between nations
 Anti-Semitism
3) Decadence
 Self-centered
 No sense of community
 Purpose of Sociology=Explain
how to make modern society
work
Develop positivist laws
Solve problems
Address moral crises
Create stability
 Morality composed-3 elements:
1. Discipline
 (Constrains egoistic impulses)
2. Attachment
 (Voluntarily join groups)
3. Autonomy

(Individual responsibility)
 Education
 Provides children with moral
tools
 Occupational associations

Adults acquire morals
 Kant
 Morality without divinity
 Sense of duty
 Saint-Simon
 Sociology->Moral laws
 Hold society together
 Comte
 Social stability & change
 Spencer
 Social evolution
Social Solidarity
Dynamic Density
Social Facts
Collective Consciousness
Collective Representations
Social Currents
Society as a distinct social
reality
Individual as Dualistic

 A set of norms, values, and
morals that hold a certain group
of people together
 “The ties that bind”
 Social context:
 Growing individualism
 Social dislocation
 Moral diversification
1) Mechanical Solidarity
 Non-industrial societies
 Minimal division of labor
 Few occupations
 Similarity bound people
together
2) Organic Solidarity
 More advanced societies
(industrial)
 Increased division of labor
 Many occupations
 Difference & Interdependency
create solidarity
 “Ways of acting, thinking, & feeling,
external to the individual & endowed
with the power of coercion, by reason
of which they control him.”
 Independent of any single individual
 Only explained by other social facts
1. Material facts
 Social structures
 Economy, Family, Social class
 Morphological Facts
 Form and Structure
 Population size and density
 Geographical location
2. Nonmaterial facts
 Norms
 Values
 Collective representations
 Collective consciousness
3. Social currents
 Not as clearly formed
 Examples:
 Enthusiasm in crowds
 Indignation in crowds
 Depression in particular
social groups
 Totality of beliefs & sentiments
common to average member of
society
 Exists before individuals
 Survives individuals
 Experienced as external
force
 Shapes behavior
 Varies from society to
society
 Based on division of labor
1. Volume=# of people involved
2. Intensity=How deeply belief felt
3. Rigidity=Clarity of definition
4. Content=Form
 Volume=Most people involved
 Intensity=Felt deeply about it
 Rigidity=Clearly defined
 Content=Religious & economic
 Volume=Large # but smaller
% of population
 Intensity=Less deeply felt
 Rigidity=Broadly defined
 Content=Personal
 Society=distinct form of
social reality
 Not reduced to biology or
psychology
 Not mere sum of its parts
 Individual and Social
Individual part
Inborn
Self-centered
 Social Part -> Socialization
 Altruistic
 Group oriented
 Needs nurturing & developing
Lack of regulation
 Division of labor
 Overspecialization
 Inability to adjust
 Lack of regular contact
 Norms (Behavior expectations)
 Confused
 Unclear or
 Not present
Modern individuals
 Weak bonds
 Social regulation breakdown
 Ineffective control on individual
desires & interests
 Individuals on their own
 Human’s dual nature->
Breakdown of morals
 Increasing deviance
 Social unrest
 Unhappiness
 Stress
Suicide rates are social facts
4 types of suicide:
1. Egoistic
2. Altruistic
3. Anomic
4. Fatalistic
 Durkheim defined suicide as:

“death resulting directly or
indirectly from a positive or
negative act of the victim
himself, which he knows will
produce this result.”
Low social integration
 Low group solidarity
 Depend on self
 Excessive individualism
Vulnerable groups:
 Urban dwellers
 Industrial workers
 Protestants
 Unmarried men
High social integration
 Excessive integration
Completely absorbed by group
 Duty to commit suicide for
group
 Examples:
 Hara-Kiri
 Modern society—Army
Low social regulation
 Breakdown of moral
community
 No rules or vague rules
Examples:
 Adolescents
 White men
Excessive social regulation
 Too tightly controlled
 Few choices
Examples:
 Slaves
 Married women--Divorce not
available
 Institutionalized Sociology
 Taught first class
 Sociologists -> Social facts
 Conducted research
Standard for research style &
presentation
 Literature review
 Theoretical context
 Testable hypotheses
 Use of statistics
 Implications of findings