Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Theorist: Emile Durkheim
Emile Durkheim was a significant contributor to the field of Sociology. In fact, he is considered by many to be the father of Sociology. Durkheim was a proponent of functionalism in that he believed that the individual was not as important as the social structure in determining behavior. Further, functionalists believe that Sociology is a science (positivism) and that society is built "around a value consensus and social solidarity which is achieved by socialization and social control" (Bryant, 2012, p.1) Durkheim is also defined by his belief in control theory which stresses the belief that individual behavior is determined by outside social influences and thus controlled by society not the individual (Bryant, 2012, p.1). Thus, Durkheim is most closely aligned with my beliefs because of his beliefs in control theory, functionalism, and positivism.
Positivism holds that sociology is a science and as such is governed by the rules governing science (Bryant, 2012, p.1). Essentially, the facts must speak for themselves by being measurable and testable....
Further, the results of such observations will not necessarily support the hypotheses (Bryant, 2012, p.1). Because Sociology is a science, if the facts do not support the theory, the theory must be altered to meet the actual results of scientific observation. Thus, Durkheim believed that human behavior is predictable and measurable in various situations. He stressed the empirical study in the social sciences (Bryant, 2012, p.1). An example of Durkheims' belief in positivism is found in Les Suicide and the methodology by which he studied the rates of suicide in Catholics vs. Protestants among other culturally diverse groups (Durkheim, 1897, p. 14).
Essentially, Durkheim found that suicide rates are lower among Catholics than among Protestants (Durkheim, 1897, p.14). He also found that suicide rates are lower among married people than among single people (Durkheim, 1897, p. 14). These results, according to Durkheim, support the view that society is comprised of a complex structure and that the individual is governed by that structure of his or her society (Durkheim, 1897, p.…
References
Bryant, L. (2012). Functionalism. Retrieved November 27, 2012 from History Learning
Site.
Website: www.historylearningsite.co.uk/functionalism.htm
Durkheim, E. (1951). Suicide. (John A. Spaulding and George Simpson, Trans.). Illinois: The
" Nowadays, students have to choose between different academic disciplines: maybe one student prefers to be a psychologist rather than a physician. And then once the student has decided on psychology, he must choose, for example, to be a psychology major, as opposed to a physician major. Further more, there are even different categories within disciplines: social psychology, organizational psychology, clinical psychology, educational psychology etc., each with its own concepts, terminology
Sociological Understandings of the Human Condition -- Comparing and Contrasting C.W. Mills and Emil Durkheim The social theorist C.W. Mills fundamentally applied a dialectical view of the human condition to all specific phenomena of human social life. In other words, Mills saw human cultural, much like the theorist Max Weber, as a rational struggle for understanding and survival. Like Weber, Mills saw human history as an evolution of ideas, where the
Emile Durkheim on Social Solidarity Durkheim is considered the first French academic sociologist and a significant part of the life of this philosopher was surrounded by his work and writing though he also participated a lot in the affairs of the French as a society. Though a respectable academic, he was still faced with various obstacles among them being the resistance and opposition from his colleagues as scholar who represented a
Durkheim One interesting way of looking at cultural, historical, and sociological trends is to extrapolate the individual into society and vice versa. Trends that occur within the individual -- birth, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, illness, old age, dementia, and death -- also occur within society, albeit at a different pace and severity. The pathology of an empire, for example, the Roman Empire, can be compared to more modern interpretations of the stages
Durkheim and the Study of Suicide Emile Durkheim was primarily interested in how societies could remain coherent and integrated in present times when shared religious and ethnic background can no longer be relied on (Wikipedia 2005). Along with Herbert Spencer, he set the first scientific approaches to social phenomena that focused on social facts, instead of individual motivation. Durkheim suggested that social phenomena existed apart, independently and more objectively of individual
Emile Durkheim Sociology is an extremely important field of study that has dramatically changed the world in which we live. Emile Durkheim has played a major role in shaping sociology and its theories. The purpose of this discussion is to provide an overview of the theorist and his work. The discussion will focus on the work and an evaluation of the validity of the theory. The Theorist book entitled Emile Durkheim, 1858-1917: