Émile Durkheim's Sociological Theory

Émile Durkheim (1858 – 1917) was also a sociologist, social psychologist and philosopher like Mead, except, unlike Mead, he was French. His three major works include “The Division of Labor” (1893), “Suicide” (1897), and “The Elementary Forms of Religious Life” (1912) and he believed that they all explained a social phenomena. Durkheim’s theories were based on things that were external in nature as opposed to those that were internal in nature. The division of labor occurred when social organization shifted from being traditional (Mechanical Solidarity) to modern (Organic Solidarity). In the olden days, people were self-sufficient, feeding themselves and their families, bounded by similarities in religions, values, societal norms, occupations, backgrounds,… However, in the modern
What is more, he also pointed out from his book, “Suicide” that the suicide rates are the result of social integration or disintegration. Anomie, usually caused by rapid social change and the division of labor, is a condition or state in which there is a breakdown of social norms and guidance. What this means is that, when there is little influence on an individual’s propensity to follow rules, individuals do not feel attached to society, instead, they feel alienated because they no longer believe in or feel like a part of that society. Abnormally high levels of integration cause people to feel like they are a burden on their social group while low levels of integration make them feel lost. Both result in suicide. Indeed, even society changes over time, yet religions remains as influential as ever, while being an unreal system of beliefs and practices. The distinction between the sacred and the profane is clearly man-made, but much similar to social order, it keeps people from feeling detached from one another. In other words, Durkheim saw that the evidence of the reality of the beliefs is generated by the