Introduction

• Two main themes in Emile Durkheim’s work are the priority of the social over the individual and the idea that society can be studied scientifically.

• These themes remain controversial and keep Durkheim relevant today.

• Modern society often attributes problems like racism, pollution, and recessions to individuals, but Durkheim stresses the social dimension of all human phenomena.

• Durkheim introduced the concept of “social facts”—aspects of society that exceed intuitive understanding and require observation and measurement.

• He is often called the “father of sociology” because he sought to establish sociology as a formal discipline.

• Durkheim believed sociology was born in 19th-century France, drawing roots from ancient philosophers (Plato, Aristotle) and French philosophers (Montesquieu, Condorcet).

• Previous philosophers did not create sociology as a distinct discipline; Durkheim aimed to do this.

• Although Auguste Comte coined the term sociology earlier, by the late 19th century, sociology had no dedicated departments, schools, or professors.

• Sociology faced strong opposition from established disciplines like psychology and philosophy, which claimed sociology’s subject matter.

• Durkheim’s challenge was to create a separate, identifiable niche for sociology.

• To differentiate sociology from philosophy, Durkheim insisted sociology focus on empirical research.

• He also opposed a philosophical approach within sociology itself, notably criticizing Comte and Herbert Spencer.

• Durkheim accused Comte of relying on preconceived ideas that society evolves inevitably toward perfection rather than studying real social change.

• Spencer was criticized for assuming harmony in society without empirically verifying if harmony actually existed.

Social Facts

• Durkheim proposed that the distinctive subject matter of sociology should be the study of social facts to help sociology separate from philosophy and gain a clear identity.

• Social facts are social structures, norms, and values that are external to and coercive of individuals.

• Example: Students are constrained by university bureaucracy and societal norms valuing education.

• Crucially, social facts must be treated as “things” and studied empirically through observation and experimentation, distinguishing Durkheimian sociology from philosophical approaches.

• Durkheim defined social facts in two ways:

  1. Experienced as external constraints rather than internal drives.

  2. General throughout society, existing independently of any individual.

• Social facts are sui generis (unique), having a reality not reducible to individual consciousness; sociology studies social facts by explaining them with other social facts, not individual intentions.

• Examples of social facts include legal rules, moral obligations, social conventions, and language.

• Language exemplifies social facts because:

  • It is a “thing” studied empirically; logical rules and exceptions must be observed in real use.

  • Language is external to individuals; individuals adapt language but do not create it. The idea of a private language is philosophically untenable since language’s function is social communication.

  • Language is coercive, shaping what individuals can easily express, e.g., difficulties in terminology for same-sex relationships reflect societal constraints.

  • Changes in language arise from social facts rather than individual intentions; slang usually emerges from marginal social groups, and its spread depends on social conditions.

• Some sociologists view Durkheim’s focus on social facts as “extremist”, limiting sociology and isolating it from other human sciences.

• Despite limitations, Durkheim’s concept of social facts established sociology as an independent discipline and strongly supported the empirical study of society as it is before deciding what it should be.

Material and Nonmaterial Social Facts

• Durkheim differentiated between two types of social facts: material and nonmaterial.

• Material social facts include observable things like styles of architecture, forms of technology, and legal codes, which are clearly external and coercive over individuals.

• These material facts often express a larger realm of moral forces that are nonmaterial social facts, which are equally external and coercive but harder to observe directly.

• The core of Durkheim’s sociology is the study of nonmaterial social facts such as norms, values, and more broadly, culture.

• A challenge arises: how can nonmaterial social facts be external to individuals if they exist in individual minds? Wouldn’t that make them internal?

• Durkheim argued that while nonmaterial social facts exist partly in individuals’ minds, they emerge from complex social interactions that follow their own laws independent of any single individual.

• He stated that social things are actualized through humans but society is not merely a sum of individuals; it must be studied through interactions, which have their own reality—this is called relational realism.

• Durkheim viewed social facts on a continuum of materiality.

• Sociologists typically start by studying material social facts because they are empirically accessible, using them to understand the more important nonmaterial social facts.

• The most material social facts include population size and density, channels of communication, and housing arrangements—these are termed morphological facts and are central in The Division of Labor in Society (1893).

• Structural components, like bureaucracies, combine morphological aspects (e.g., number of people and communication lines) and nonmaterial social facts (e.g., bureaucratic norms).