Émile Durkheim

French sociologist (1858–1917)

OverviewAI-generated

Émile Durkheim was born on April 15, 1858, and died on November 15, 1917. He is the author of 313 works, including *Les formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse*, *Chi ha voluto la guerra?*, *Leçons de sociologie*, *社会学方法的准则*, and "L'Allemagne au-dessus de tout." His writings have been referenced by 1,249 other encyclopedia articles.

Durkheim is associated with a Commons category and creator page bearing his name. He is also listed as an artist on Last.fm and MusicBrainz, where he is described as a black metal group from Wien. This listing includes 71 listeners and 136 playcounts, with similar artists identified as FEFOVERSO and Fatos Desconhecidos.

His published quotes include the statement that there is no sociology worthy of the name which does not possess a historical character. He also wrote that when mores are sufficient, laws are unnecessary, but when mores are insufficient, laws are unenforceable.

Synthesized by Vinony from 19 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, Last.fm, Crossref, Wikiquote, MusicBrainz, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born: 1858
Died: 1917
Works: 313

Top works

Les formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse
Chi ha voluto la guerra?
Leçons de sociologie
社会学方法的准则
"L'Allemagne au-dessus de tout,"

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

Type: Group
Origin: Wien
Active from: 2011-02-01

black metal

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners: 71
Total plays: 136

Similar artists

FEFOVERSOFatos Desconhecidos

via Last.fm · Émile Durkheim

Recent publications · Crossref

5 total works indexed

The Division of Labour in Society
· 1984 · cited 1,594x
The Rules of Sociological Method
· 1982 · cited 1,397x
Les probabilités dénombrables et leurs applications arithmétiques
· 1909 · cited 417x
Knowledge Exchange Processes in Organizations and Policy Arenas: A Narrative Systematic Review of the Literature
· 2010 · cited 323x
Suicide
· 2005 · cited 317x

via Crossref · CC0

Quotes

“For if society lacks the unity that derives from the fact that the relationships between its parts are exactly regulated, that unity resulting from the harmonious articulation of its various functions assured by effective discipline and if, in addition, society lacks the unity based upon the commitment of men's wills to a common objective, then it is no more than a pile of sand that the least jolt or the slightest puff will suffice to scatter.”
“There is no sociology worthy of the name which does not possess a historical character.”
“Kant postulates God, since without this hypothesis morality is unintelligible. We postulate a society specifically distinct from individuals, since otherwise morality has no object and duty no roots.”
“When mores are sufficient, laws are unnecessary. When mores are insufficient, laws are unenforceable.”
“The division of labour is not of recent origin, but it was only at the end of the eighteenth century that social cognizance was taken of the principle. though, until then, unwitting submission had been rendered to it. To be sure, several thinkers from earliest times saw its importance; but Adam Smith was the first to attempt a theory of it. Moreover, he adopted this phrase that social science later lent to biology.”
“At this point, an urgent question arises:... Is it our duty to seek to become a thorough and complete human being, one quite sufficient unto himself; or, on the contrary, to be only a part of a whole, the organ of an organism? Briefly, is the division of labor, at the same time that it is a law of nature, also a moral rule of human conduct; and, if it has this latter character, why and in what degree?”

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

~40 min read

Encyclopedic overview

David Émile Durkheim (/ˈdɜːrkhaɪm/; French: [emil dyʁkɛm] or [dyʁkajm]; 15 April 1858 – 15 November 1917) was a French sociologist. He formally established the academic discipline of sociology, and is commonly cited as one of the principal architects of modern social science, along with Karl Marx and Max Weber.

Much of Durkheim's work concerns the inability of societies to maintain their integrity and coherence in modernity, an era in which traditional social and religious ties are much less universal, and in which new social institutions have come into being. His conception of the scientific study of society laid the groundwork for modern sociology. He used such scientific tools as statistics, surveys, and historical observation in his analysis of suicides in Roman Catholic and Protestant groups.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Émile Durkheim” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.