Module Coordinator: Paul Jones Essay Sample

Essay Question: Why is the construct of societal facts so important for Durkheim’s work? Exemplify your reply with mention to at least one of his surveies.

This essay will look at societal facts and the significance of them to Durkheim’s work. Emile Durkheim ( 1858-1917 ) a Gallic sociologist wrote a series of controversial monographs. demoing the methods and capable affair of the new scientific discipline of sociology. Some of his major plants include The Division of Labour in Society ( 1893 ) . The Rules of Sociological Method ( 1895 ) and Suicide ( 1897 ) . this essay will take a closer expression at Durkheim’s work on Suicide. and his construct of societal facts being so important in his surveies.

For Durkheim the scientific discipline of sociology was to be characterized by observation non abstract theory. he was interested in the survey of societal facts instead than psychological facts. supplying both causal and functional accounts. The rules he applied can be found in his work Suicide ( 1897 ) . here Durkheim demonstrates how such a personal act is finally determined by society. the suicide rate is therefore a societal fact ( Marshall. 1998 ) . Social facts for Durkheim are every bit of import as other scientific disciplines trade with natural facts. he was to near this in the same manner other scientific disciplines trade with natural facts. in that they are external and restraining. facts are external to our ideas and constrain the class of human behavior. even though we may non be to the full cognizant of their making so ( Hughes. et. Al. 1995 ) . We as human existences may non peculiarly feel constrained in our mundane lives ; Durkheim argues that despite this. such feelings are sometimes illusive. “we do non experience forced in so far as what we do coincides with what we are standardly required to do” ( Hughes. et. Al. 1995. pg. 161 )

Durkheim is stating that ; in society we all as participants may non be to the full cognizant of the regulations and ordinances that are being imposed on us. persons go about their mundane lives. unconscious to the restraints being placed upon them. it is merely when we do something out of what is seen as the “norm” we may confront ill will or even harsher intervention. We are all faced with standard duties. 1s which are the merchandises of our corporate lives. we did non contrive them. but arose out of the forms of our single dealingss. although we encounter these duties separately. they apply to anyone busying the relevant societal place. we may non experience forced. but will go cognizant of them if we try to withstand them ( Hughes. et. Al. 1995 ) .

Social facts are to be considered as “things” they are non physical but mental facts. they are facts of our corporate life. We as persons may be cognizant of the criterion duties which apply to us. take for illustration being a member of a household. we are all cognizant of what we are supposed to make. but looking at how the household has grown up as a portion of societal administration. and the different ways it evolves over clip. the impacts it has on society as a whole. without sociological research we would stay nescient of these affairs. the same manner we are nescient as to why we as persons do the things we do ( Hughes. et. Al. 1995 ) . Sociology for Durkheim was the scientific survey of a world sui generis ; a defined group of phenomena. Durkheim reserved the term societal facts. i. e. “a class of facts which present really particular features. they consist of manners of moving. thought. and experiencing external to the person. which are invested with a coercive power by virtuousness of which they exercise control over him” [ World Wide Web. Durkheim. uchicago. edu. com. 10/01/2011 ] . These facts could non be confused with biological phenomena or the state of psychological science ; they existed outside the single scruples. It was to specify the proper method for their survey that Durkheim wrote The Rules of Sociological Method ( 1895 ) [ World Wide Web. Durkheim. uchicago. edu. com. 10/01/2011 ] .

For Durkheim there are two types of societal facts. stuff and non stuff. the non stuff facts constitute the chief topic of the survey of sociology. these non stuff societal facts do non hold a stuff world. there features consist of norms. values and systems of morality. In Durkheim’s terminology some of these non stuff societal facts are corporate consciousness. societal currents and morality. an illustration of the latter is Durkheim’s analysis of Suicide [ World Wide Web. uregina. ca/social facts and self-destruction. com. 09/01/2011 ] .

It was non the purpose of Durkheim to explicate or foretell an single inclination to suicide. it was to explicate one type of non material societal facts. societal currents. Social currents are features of society. they may non hold the stableness and permanency that some parts of corporate representations have. These societal currents in the instance of self-destruction are expressed as self-destruction rates. rates that differ among societies and within different groups in society. Durkheim found that these rates show regularities over clip. with alterations in the rates frequently happening at similar times within different societies. these rates can be said to be societal facts ( or at least the statistical representations of societal facts ) they are non merely personal. but are social features [ World Wide Web. uregina. ca/social facts and self-destruction. com. 09/01/2011 ] .

Durkheim’s survey of Suicide ( 1897 ) achieved its ill fame through its publicity as the theoretical account for sociology as a scientific subject. chiefly because of its extended usage of statistics in his survey. It was to go the chief characteristic that established Suicide’s claim to exemplary scientific position. it was besides a presentation of non merely the injunction to handle societal facts as things. but besides the method by which this can be achieved. The statistical rates were non societal facts themselves but. instead. declarative mood of them ( Hughes. et. Al. 1995 ) Durkheim began his survey by analyzing self-destruction records in and around France. the statistics displayed that some classs of people were more prone to take their ain lives. he besides noticed that work forces had a higher inclination than adult females ( Macionas. Plummer. 1998 ) .

As Durkheim considered these statistics as societal facts. he believed that they could be used to happen the sociological causes of suicide rates. he would travel on to seek and set up correlativities. and utilizing the comparative method. bring outing forms that would uncover the causal relationships at work in the production of suicide rates ( Haralhambos. Holborn. 2008 ) Suicide ( 1897 ) was non written with the purpose of explicating why persons commit self-destruction. its purpose was to demo why suicide rates exhibit such stableness ( Hughes. et. Al. 1995 ) .

Durkheim developed a four crease categorization system of self-destructions. the first 1 he named ‘Egoistic suicide’ . is characterized by a general depression. displayed in the signifier of melancholy dreaminess or Epicurean indifference ( Durkheim. 1951 ) this type of self-destruction occurs when the person has insufficiently integrated into a peculiar societal group. ensuing in the single feeling isolated and excluded from society. this can be seen in single people particularly males. Durkheim examined the function of faith in this class. he noticed that in Catholic states self-destruction was lower than in Protestant states. Durkheim argued the greater the freedom given in Protestantism. had to be connected to the higher self-destruction rate ( but merely in connexion with the type of Protestant church ) [ World Wide Web. reviews/Durkheim. com. 08/01/2011 ] .

‘Altruistic suicide’ is another type which Durkheim viewed as the antonym of egocentric. the single holding excessively much societal integrating within the group. to the extent the person may see his/her ain life of less value than the wellbeing of the group ; ensuing in the single feeling so weak they find themselves holding demands placed upon them by the group. such as their ain life. the armed forces would be an illustration of this type of self-destruction. persons seting the group before themselves ; ( Hughes. et. Al. 1995 ) an extreme of this could be suicide bombers.

‘Anomic suicide’ for Durkheim is the type of self-destruction identified with an disconnected displacement in an individual’s fortunes. these displacements could affect a individuals rank being removed from a good incorporate group [ World Wide Web. deathreference/Durkheim. com ] it was besides associated with moral ordinances. the ‘anomic’ type could ensue in the absence of societies control over the individual’s aspirations and hopes. and is of considerable importance to Durkheim ( Hughes. et. Al. 1995 ) .

‘Fatalistic suicide’ happening when members of tightly knit groups’ found their lives were being suppressed and hindered. whose ‘futures are mercilessly blocked and passions violently choked by oppressive discipline’ ( Durkheim 1951. pg. 276 ) . Slaves or captives of war who were bound into distinguishable groups and passions that was dominated by other groups. may perpetrate this type of self-destruction in order to show control over their lives. or get away group rank

[ World Wide Web. deathreference/Durkeim. com. 10/01/2011
A feminist position on gender. household and self-destruction. Sydie. R. A. ( 1987 ) discusses Durkheim’s claim refering female and male self-destruction rates. Durkheim examined the gender differences in the rates of self-destruction. in those of married. widowed. divorced etc. Durkheim in general. found that adult females have lower self-destruction rates than work forces. besides that there are different rates associated with matrimonial position. and in different states.

The statistics in individual male. and male divorces. are peculiarly capable to suicide. here Sydie argues that it is based on Durkheim’s position that matrimony being better for work forces than of adult females ; Sydie goes on to state that for Durkheim matrimony provides tranquility and moral composure for work forces. and in order to decrease the self-destruction rate in work forces. the establishment of matrimony should be strengthened. Whereas with adult females. they tend to be negatively affected by matrimony. Durkheim states that women’s sexual demands are more biological and less mental than men’s. women’s mental life is less developed. females are more natural. and less societal ordinance is needed for adult females compared to that of work forces. Stronger matrimony establishments would increase the suicide rate within females. and lessen the male rate [ World Wide Web. uregina/social facts/Durkheim. com. 09/01/2011 ] .

Durkheim’s general intent in composing Suicide ( 1897 ) was to show that sociology can. should. must be an independent scientific discipline of the existence of human action ( Douglas. 1967 ) . Durkheim had a strong structural position of society. besides the mode in which each person is influenced by these societal facts and how we must suit into these. he attempted to see a function for the societal as distinguished from the economic. biological and psychological. It is displayed in his position of the societal influences on self-destruction rates.

he takes a broad mixture of factors and considers their influence on the inclination or aptitude for self-destruction. these must be mediated by societal factors. The societal factors that he identified in peculiar were the grade of ordinance and integrating [ uregina/social facts/Durkheim. com. 09/01/2011 ] .

Factors used by others to explicate self-destruction included race. heredity. clime and single psychopathologic provinces ( mental unwellness ) and imitation. Durkheim’s method of analysis should turn out utile for sociologists today. in footings of self-destruction. the societal causes are good identified. any analysis of self-destruction would hold to include these. The method of self-destruction more by and large is model ; in supplying research workers with a agencies of understanding the societal factors associated with peculiar phenomena [ uregina/social facts/Durkheim. com. 09/01/2011 ] .

It is clear that for Durkheim ‘social facts’ and the usage of them in his surveies. were important ; as in the manner other scientific disciplines dealt with natural facts. he was to revolutionize the scientific discipline of sociology. and the ways in which it surveies societal phenomena. each societal fact must be explained by another societal fact. instead than by cut downing societal phenomena to single motives and behavior ( Roberts. 2009 ) .

Bibliography

Douglas. J. D. ( 1967 ) The Social Meaning of Suicide. America: Princeton University Press.
Durkheim. E. ( 1951 ) Suicide A Study in Sociology. Norfolk: The Free Press.

Haralhambos. M. and Holborn. M. ( 2008 ) Sociology Themes and Perspectives. 7th erectile dysfunction. London: HarperCollins Publishers Limited.

Hughes. J. A. Martin. P. J. and Sharrock. W. W. ( 1995 ) Understanding Authoritative
Sociology. London: Sage Publications Ltd.

Macionas. J. J. and Plummer. K. ( 1998 ) Sociology a Global debut. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc.

Marsh. I. and Keating. M. ( 2006 ) Sociology Making sense of society. 3rd erectile dysfunction. Essex: Pearson Education Ltd.

Marshall. G. ( 1998 ) Oxford Dictionary of Sociology. 2nd erectile dysfunction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Roberts. K. ( 2009 ) Key Concepts in Sociology. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

hypertext transfer protocol: //www. Durkheim. uchicago. edu/summaries [ Accessed 10/01/2011 ]

hypertext transfer protocol: //www. uregina/social facts/suicide. ca/~gingrich/o 28f99. hypertext markup language [ Accessed 09/01/2011 ]

hypertext transfer protocol: //www. deathreference. com/Da-Em? Durkheim-mile. hypertext markup language [ Accessed 10/01/2011 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //www. reappraisals. ctpdc. co. uk/Durkheim. hypertext markup language [ Accessed 08/01/2011 ]