Sociology

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 COLLECTIVEOR 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
HE IS LESS CONCERNED WITH THE QUESTION OF WHAT CONSTITUTES SOCIETY THEN WHAT HOLDS IT TOGETHER AND HOW DID IT DEVELOP
EVERYONE IS AN INDIVIDUAL (EGOISTIC)
YET EVERYONE SHOULD FOLLOW THE SAME MORAL CODES
BASIC QUESTION:

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

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

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
2. ORGANIC SOLIDARITY
THE ONLY WAY TO KNOW SOLIDARITY IS BY INDICATORS, AND AN IMPORTANT PIECE OF COHESION ITSELF
1. REPRESSIVE LAW
2. RESTITUTIVE LAW
WHAT BRINGS THE CHANGE FROM ONE TO THE OTHER?

ISN'T INCREASED HAPPINESS, INSTEAD IT IS A
GROWTH IN POPULATION DENSITY
CORRESPONDING GROWTH IN MORAL OR DYNAMIC DENSITY

CONFLICT BETWEEN LIKE PARTS LEADS TO DIFFERENTIATION RATHER THAN DESTRUCTION, COMPLEX DIVISION OF LABOR WHICH HELPS PRODUCE STABILITY
ABNORMAL FORMS OF THE DIVISION OF LABOR
1. ANOMIC

LACK OF INTEGRATION, SOCIAL DISINTEGRATION, LOSING THE SINCE OF INTEGRATION, THE QUESTION IS HOW TO CREATE RULES OF CONDUCT THAT WILL HOLD SOCIETY TOGETHER - THEY NEED TO BE HABITUAL AND HAVE COLLECTIVE FORCE OR CONTROL OVER PEOPLE
2. FORCED DIVISION OF LABOR

NON-ACHIEVED STATUS, FOR SOCIETY TO WORK SMOOTHLY FOLKS HAVE TO ACCEPT THEIR LOT IN THE STRATIFIED SYSTEM, WHEN TALENT AND ACCESS DO NOT MATCH
3. INADEQUATELY COORDINATED DIVISION OF LABOR

WAISTED TIME AND ENERGY, ONE PART ACHIEVES MORE ONLY IF OTHERS DO, SOME WILL BE HELD BACK

III. ELEMENTARY FORMS OF RELIGIOUS LIFE

I. PURPOSE - ORIGIN OF RELIGION

For Durkheim, everything starts from religion. More accurately, religion was the social bond in society (much like St. Simon).
FOR ST. SIMON AND COMTE AS WELL, THE DISMANTLING OF THE POWER AND CONTROL OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH CREATED A VOID THAT NEEDED TO BE FILLED WHETHER IT WAS THE "NEW CHRISTIANITY" OR THE "RELIGION OF HUMANITY"

Definition...
"A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden -- beliefs and practices which united into one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them."

4. LOOK AT TOTEMIC PRACTICES
ARUNTAS, PRIMITIVE GROUP, PROVIDE CLUE TO ORIGINS
5. BELIEF OF MYSTERIOUS SACRED FORCE COMING FROM THE TOTEM; IT IS THE EMBLEM FOR THE SOCIAL GROUP
CAN'T COME FROM TOTEM ITSELF; THINGS ARE SACRED IN ONE CONTEXT BUT PROFANE IN ANOTHER (THINK DRINKING OF WINE AT CATHOLIC CHUCH VS A PARTY)
TOTEM MUST BE SYMBOL OF SOMETHING ELSE
THEREFORE:
I. SYMBOLIZED DIVINITY AND THE CLAN ITSELF
II. TOTEMIC DIVINITY AND CLAN ARE REALLY THE SAME THING
III. DIVINE IS ONLY SYMBOLIC EXPRESSION OF SOCIETY, BOTH "GOD" AND SOCIETY POSSESS MORAL AUTHORITY; INSPIRE DEVOTION; AND SACRIFICE
2. SMALL BANDS COME TOGETHER IN EUPHORIC CELEBRATION WHICH BREAK DULL ROUTINE OF EVERYDAY LIFE
3. SACRED AND PROFANE TAKE ON VERY DIFFERENT CHARACTERISTICS, WHERE THE PROFANE SEEMS INDIVIDUALISTIC AND ISOLATING TO SOME DEGREE, THE SACRED IS AT ONCE COMMUNAL, CREATING BONDS THAT UNITE US TOGETHER AS ONE
4. THE FUNCTION OF RELIGION IS THE CREATION, REINFORCEMENT, AND MAINTENANCE OF SOCIAL SOLIDARITY
5. IT REPRESENTED THE MORAL CODE OF SOCIETY, THE GLUE

DURKHEIM: FOUR MAJOR FUNCTIONS OF RELIGION (ACCORDING TO HARRY ALPERT)
6. DISCIPLINE, -- SELF CONTROL BY ADHERING TO RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLES
7. COHESION, -- CEREMONIES, RITES, RITUALS BIND FOLKS TOGETHER
8. VITALIZING, -- RENEWS ONES BELIEF AND ENERGY AND SOCIAL OR COMMUNAL HERITAGE AND PASSES THOSE MORAL CODES AND VALUES ON TO THE NEXT GENERATION
9. EUPHORIC, -- COUNTERACTS THE HEAPS OF CRAP LIFE PUTS ON US AND GIVES US THAT SENSE OF MORAL RIGHT, COMMON GOOD, ETC