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Emile Durkheim 18581917

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Title: Emile Durkheim 18581917


1
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
  • Man's characteristic privilege is that the bond
    he accepts is not physical but moral that is,
    social. He is governed not by a material
    environment brutally imposed on him, but by a
    conscience superior to his own, the superiority
    of which he feels. Because the greater, better
    part of his existence transcends the body, he
    escapes the body's yoke, but is subject to that
    of society.

http//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24
/Emile_Durkheim.jpg
2
Life and childhood
  • Life and childhood
  • Born in Lorraine April 15, 1858
  • Son of a prominent Rabbi
  • Raised in strict Jewish fashion
  • Early schooling in a rabbinical school
  • Decided not to become a rabbi
  • Eventually became agnostic
  • Schooled in many prestigious schools
  • College d'Epinal
  • Lycee Louis-Le-Grand in Paris
  • Ecole Normale Superieure

3
Early influences
  • Early Influences
  • Charles Renouvier-philosopher
  • Emile Boutoux-philosopher
  • Numas-Denis Fustel de Coulanges-historian
  • Rebelled against the generlalized education
  • Preferred training in scientific methods and
    moral principles
  • "The metaphysician"

4
Early adulthood
  • Became an instructor of philosophy at the
    University of Bordeaux in 1887
  • Offered the first course in social science in a
    French university.
  • Taught teaching classes to educators and believed
    in the morality of education
  • Married Louise Dreyfus
  • Two children Marie Andre

5
Published works
  • The Division of Labor in Society
  • Unity and solidarity
  • Modern society capable in principle of rational
    integration while providing an environment for
    individual autonomy
  • The Rules of Sociological Method
  • Formalization of the frameworks from The Division
    of Labor
  • Le Suicide
  • First application of the scientific method to
    study social phenomena
  • Suicide is an individual and antisocial act,
    which can be understood sociologically
  • Sociology is capable of understanding the rates
    of suicide and the factors which help determine
    such rates
  • Full professorship at Bordeaux

6
Lanee sociologique
  • L'Annee Sociologique
  • First social science journal in France
  • Led to the Durkheimian approach to sociology
  • Individual and Collective Representations
  • Paper outlining the "manifesto" for the
    Durkheimian School
  • The Elementary Forms of Religious Life
  • Society could not exist independently of
    religious forms of sentiment and action
  • The basis of religion lies in a social basis

7
Later adulthood
  • Later Adulthood
  • Full professorship at the Sorbonne in 1902.
  • Education chair in the Science of Education
  • Later renamed by Durkheim the Science of
    Education and Sociology
  • Andre Durkheim, who was Emile's son and bright
    linguist was killed in April 1916 during WWI.
    Emile Durkheim never recovered and suffered a
    stroke, dying a year later on November 15, 1917

8
Intellectual influences
  • Intellectual Influences
  • Largely from French intellectual traditions

9
The french tradition
  • Rousseau
  • Volante Generale (general will) influenced
    Durkheim's idea of "solidarity"
  • Solidarity has body (organic component) and an
    attitude/sentiment (feeling of belonging)
    component. Functionalism and social
    psychological effect
  • "Man is himself only in and through society. If
    man were not a part of society, he would be an
    animal like the rest"
  • Durkheim disagreed with Rousseau on the thought
    that the political state was the essence of
    society. Durkheim believed that politics were
    bone of many influences on man
  • Montesquieu
  • Interrelatedness of social phenomena. The
    connectedness of social and cultural phenomena
  • Belief that elements of society must be
    understood in context rather than by themselves
  • Law and morality, trade, social structure,
    culture, religion etc

10
The french tradition
  • Renouvier
  • Rationalism that believed in a scientific
    approach to socialness and morality while
    maintaining the idea of individual autonomy
  • Durkheim disagreed with Renouvier's rejection of
    historical laws and society
  • Agreed with ethical and moral considerations are
    a central role in philosophy
  • That there is a need for science of ethics
  • Philosophy should guide social action
  • Moral unity
  • Gabriel Tarde
  • "Imitation"
  • Aggregater of individuals in action and human
    behavior was imitated at a social level from the
    actions of leaders.
  • Durkheim instead believed that society is a
    reality and behavior must be structurally based
    instead of social-psychological

11
The french tradition
  • Saint-Simon
  • Ideas on socialistm
  • Durkheim states "for all of us, all that is
    essential in socialist doctrine is found in the
    philosophy of Saint-Simon"
  • Influenced Durkheim's belief in the ability to
    create an organic order of peace and stability by
    instituting the proper moral ideas
  • Positivism (Saint-Simon being more consistent
    with positivism than Comte)
  • Comte
  • Recognized the division of labor as a source of
    solidarity.
  • Durkheim believed in the division of labor as a
    way of binding people together and creating
    dependency
  • "Consensus" influenced Durkheim's notion of
    "collective conscience"
  • Durkheim disagreed with Comtes "theological"
    ideas or metaphysics
  • Did not like Comte's conception of social order
    with conservative values
  • Durkheim advocated a distinction between cosmic
    and secular order, believing in secular order as
    the solution
  • Durkheim didn't view Comte as a sociologist but a
    philosopher

12
The english liberal tradition
  • The English Liberal Tradition
  • Major liberal themes included
  • Constitutional regulation and balance of powers
  • Parliamentary government
  • Economic individualism
  • Market economy
  • Minimal government

13
The english tradition
  • Herbert Spencer
  • Highly influential on Durkheim's Division of
    Labor
  • Praised Spencer's classification of society as an
    organic or "natural" entity
  • Durkheim's evolutionary views come from Spencer
  • Durkheim's view that evolution is a movement from
    systems of mechanical to systems of organic
    solidarity (this is analogous to Spencer's
    movement from incoherent homogeneity to coherent
    heterogeneity )
  • Durkheim did not view Spencer as a sociologist
    but as a philosopher
  • Durkheim was not impressed by Spencer's
    particular social theories, especially the
    individualistic premises because Durkheim did not
    believe in self-interest maintaining social order
  • Also believed that individuals property should
    reflect their contributions to society and not
    inheritance
  • Durkheim created a new doctrine that synthesized
    the needs of the working class but upheld the
    tradition work ethic idealism of the democratic
    middle class

14
German idealism
  • German Idealism
  • Durkheim published numerous critical reviews of
    German thinkers such as
  • Simmel
  • Schaffle
  • Gumplowicz
  • Toennies
  • In particular Toennies Gemeinschaft und
    Gesellschaft is an influence on Durkheim's
    distinction between organic and mechanical
    societies

15
German idealism
  • Immanuel Kant
  • Once expanded rationalism then rejected the
    concept of ultimate rationalism
  • Durkheim was most influenced by Kant's commitment
    to the examination of moral duty
  • Durkheim's sociological outlook was an extension
    of Kant's notion of duty and moral obligation.
  • "everything which is the source of solidarity is
    moral, everything which forces man to take
    account of other men is moral, everything which
    forces him to regulate his conduct through
    something other than the surviving of his ego is
    moral, and morality is as solid as these ties are
    numerous and strong"

16
German idealism
  • Wilhelm Wundt
  • Father of experimental psychology
  • Durkheim was impressed by Wundt's commitment to
    scientific methodology and the research conducted
    at his famous laboratory in Leipzig
  • Agreed with Wundt's "Volkseele" (the group soul)
    which Durkheim substituted for "Volksgeist" This
    view is similar to the concept of collective
    conscience
  • Also believed in Wundt's explanation that moral
    phenomena must be treated as "facts of social
    existence"
  • Social facts as "things"

17
Concepts Contributions
  • Labeled as
  • Father of Functionalism
  • Father of French Sociology
  • Founder of Modern Sociology
  • First Full Professor of Sociology

18
The Division in Labor/Solidarity
  • Mechanical Solidarity
  • Primitive society which has no differentiated
    social structure
  • No division of labor
  • Organic Solidarity
  • Modern society which developes out of the
    difference in the economic and social structure.
  • High division and specialized labor

19
Division in Labor/Solidarity
  • Defined as the bond between all individuals
    within a society
  • As society become more technologically advanced
    there has to be more specialization and increased
    division in labor
  • This causes a shift in the way people relate to
    each other.

20
Division in labor/Solidarity
  • 2 types of Solidarity
  • Mechanical Solidarity - Primitive societies
  • Similarities and generalisms
  • Organic Solidarity - Modern societies
  • Specialization of people
  • A need for the services of others
  • Social Implications of Specialization
  • Values and norms change and subcultures emerge

21
Collective conscience
  • 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 the collective or common conscience.

22
Collective Conscience
  • Primitive societies
  • Laws are harsh, intense, rigid, and universally
    shared.
  • Law is repressive and the deviant is severally
    punished
  • Modern societies
  • Laws are less harsh, less punitive, less
    intensely felt, and less shared.
  • Punishment is enforced by issuing fines

23
Collective conscience
  • Agents of socialization of norms/moral facts
  • Institutions teach norms
  • Family
  • Religion
  • Occupation
  • The more division in labor, the more
    individualism becomes the moral compass of modern
    society

24
Methodology
  • Sociology grew from philosophy and must separate
    itself and become a science
  • Social Phenomenon should be studied empirically
    using the scientific method

25
Study of Suicide (1897)
  • Provided an example of a sociology study that
    emphasized social facts rather than individual
    experiences
  • Rates of suicide varied from country to country
    and there appeared to be a different
    predisposition to suicide in different
    societies.

26
Study of Suicide (1897)
  • Four types of suicide
  • Egoistic
  • Low degree of integration
  • Society has excessive individualism, separation
    from society and the individual
  • Altruistic
  • High degree of integration
  • Society forces people into killing themselves,
    lack of individualism and duty to country
  • Anomic
  • Low regulation
  • Society is faced with economic disaster, despair
    or changing social status
  • Fatalistic High regulation and external
    constraints

27
Religion
  • Nothing more than collective representations of
    the overwhelming power of society
  • Religion is highly social and serves as a bonding
    function and identification for the individuals
    within a society
  • Religion provides for
  • Meaning in life
  • Authority figures
  • Reinforces the morals and social norms

28
Morality
  • Moral ideas and sentiments are to be preserved
    but historical bonds with religion must be
    broken.
  • Educational institutions and wider society should
    forge and create a new sense of morality that
    emphasizes rights, privileges, and duties

29
Socialism
  • Durkheim opposed socialism and tried to construct
    a model of society that was in opposition to Marx
  • Even though Durkheim opposes socialism he
    believes that people who acquire too much wealth
    have a greater likelihood of becoming corrupt
    which is a function of socialism

30
Functionalism
  • Functionalist perspective views society as a sum
    total of the large number of persons, groups,
    organizations and social institutions.
  • Society is a system, and its parts contribute to
    its stability and continued existence.
  • Parts of the society are interconnected and try
    to meet the demands of each of the parts.

31
Crime
  • Durkheims view of crime was that it serves as a
    function to help unite society's' members.
  • A action does not shock the conscience collective
    because it is a crime but the action is a crime
    because it shocks the conscience collective
  • Punishment of violators reminds society as a
    whole to not risk deviating from the law
  • Punishment also reaffirms the sense of morality
    within a society

32
Crime
  • Crime and Law
  • A society of Mechanical Solidarity is
    characterized by repressive law and crime would
    be punished severely
  • A society of Organic Solidarity is characterized
    by restitutive law or trying to reintegrate the
    criminal back into society after treatment

33
Relevancy
  • Attempted to mold events to put his principles
    into practice.
  • He founded and edited LAnnee Sociologique a
    professional sociological periodical.
  • He provided the basic schematic for structural
    and functional analysis in sociology, and
    insisted on the usage of empirical methodology,
    so that sociology could accurately claim itself
    as a science.

34
Relevancy
  • Durkheim hoped that scientific sociology would
    help create a moral re-education in the Third
    Republic and at the same time hel to replace
    religion, as the source of morality, with a
    secular morality.
  • He became the seceratary of the Committee for the
    Publication of studies and documents on the war,
    publishing several pamphlets attacking
    pan-Germanism, to help France in WWI.

35
Relevancy
  • He lost his son Andre, who had followed his
    father to Ecole Normale to pursue a promising
    career as a sociological linguist. The death hit
    him hard and was able to write very little
    afterwards and eventually died at the age of 59.
  • Durkhiems works and thoughts continued to be
    relevant and significant in the third millennium.
  • Rober Merton expanded Durkheims functional
    approach through his manifest and latent
    functions, utilizing the term dysfunctional as it
    applies to social systems and the creation of
    Anomie Theory.

36
Relevancy
  • As initially developed by Durkheim the concept of
    anomie refers to a condition of relative
    normlessness, in a society or group.
  • The core of Durkheims theory lies with the
    concept of social fact, especially with such
    nonmaterial social facts as the collective
    conscience, collective representations and social
    currents.

37
Relevancy
  • Durkheim was very concerned with what he
    perceived as the lack of morality in French
    society, but its safe to say that in all
    societies today and in the future we will wrestle
    with the issue of morality.
  • Cult of Personality- taking over for religion.
  • Crime serves a functional role in society because
    it helps to promote social change when a
    violation of a law caused such a public outrage
    that demands for change occurred. (Example, Rosa
    Parks)

38
Relevancy
  • It can be argued that Durkheim envisioned
    globalization, Global Solidarity
  • Emile Durkheim was and remains one of the
    greatest social thinkers of all time and his
    works will remain relevant well into the third
    millennium.
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