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 oman Empire, can be compared to more modern interpretations of the stages and psychopathology of the individual, and not only trends examined and compared, but a clear relationship between the way ome declined from within, eventually to merge into something quite different, and ways of looking at individual self-destructive behaviors.

Emile Durkeim (1858-1917) was a French sociologist who many consider to be one of the founders of sociology and anthropology. He was instrumental in establishing sociology as a true, scientific discipline, and also studied education, crime, religion, suicide, and the manner…

REFERENCES

Alexander, Jeffrey and P. Smith, (2005), The Cambridge Companion to Durkeim,

Durkheim, E. And Fields, H. (1995). The Elementary Forms of Religious Life.

New York: The Free Press.

Durkheim, Emile and A. Giddens. (1972). Emile Durkheim: Selected Writings.

"

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 and methods. As in many other areas of activity, the division of labor in modern academia was a necessary phenomenon in the modern society given the economic and social conditions of the modern world, when the aim of education is to prepare students for different specializations and then, through working, interdependence and collaboration is necessary in order to reach the goal and obtain the wanted results. Durkheim's theory division of labor depicts the fact that in a society based…

Bibliography

Clyde Hudgins, Clyde, Richards, Michael. G. Individual, Family and Community: An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Study of Contemporary Life. Introduction. http://www.accd.edu/sac/interdis/2370/intro.html

Comparative Political Systems. Lecture #2 - Theoretical Antecedents - Marx, Weber, & Durkheim. www.towson.edu/~roberts/339/A02marx.doc

Durkheim, Emile. The Division of Labor in Society Translated by George Simpson. New York: The Free Press, 1933

Grabb, Edward G. Theories of Social Inequality: Classical and Contemporary

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 actions and that these phenomena could be explained by other social facts other than society's, for example, climatic or ecological adaptation. This belief later came to be known as functionalism (Wikipedi).

His work, "The Division of Labor in Society," published in 1893, examined the different types of society, particularly the division of labor and how this division different between traditional and modern societies (Wikipedia 2005). He suggested a view that reversed the order of evolution among societies from a…

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Elwell F.W. (2003). Emile durkheim's sociology. Rogers State University.  http://www.faculty.rsu.edu/~felwell/Theorists/Durkheim 

2. Gingrich, P. (1999). Social factors and suicide. University of Regina. http://uregina.ca/~gingrich/626199.htm

3. Hewlett School (2005). Durkheim's anomie. Crime and Deviance. http://www.hewett.norfolk.sch.uk/curric/soc/crime/anomie.htm

4. -- . Emile durkheim: the person. http://www.hewlett.norfolk.sch.uk/curric/soc/dukheim/drukper.htm

Another compelling component that confirms Dukheim's consensus is the fact that despite more women than men experiencing depression, the number of male suicides is consistently larger. (Ibid)

In Light of Suicide's Darkness In light of suicide's darkness, along with the contention that Durham's explanation of anomic and egoistic suicides is a valid reflection of social reality, several patterns of suicide that might be observed in contemporary American social life include:

Greater incidents of suicide may be probable in individuals who have experienced the loss of their family, as Durkheim noted that family life protects an individual from suicide.

Less incidents of suicide are anticipated overall (and among Jews in the U.S.) as the U.S. is currently engaged in war and Durkheim contended that:.".. peacetime suicide rates > wartime suicide rates among Protestants > Roman Catholics > Jews." (Pickering and alford 180).

Greater incidents of suicide may occur in work environments…

Works Cited

Blackman, Jerome S. 101 Defenses: How the Mind Shields Itself. New York: Routledge, 2004.

Durkheim, Emile. The Columbia World of Quotations. New York: Columbia University Press,  http://www.bartleby.com/66/48/18048.html,1996 .

Pickering, W.S.F., and Geoffrey Walford, eds. Durkheim's Suicide: A Century of Research and Debate. London: Routledge, 2000.

Santayana, George. The Columbia World of Quotations. New York: Columbia University Press. Retrieved 14 July 2006 at  http://www.bartleby.com/66/52/48152.html,1996 .

I am unhappy, why not kill myself?' An anomic suicide might say, 'the old gods have been shown to be false, so their prohibitions against suicide are also false, why not kill myself since I am unhappy?' ("Individual and society," Sociology at Hewett, excerpted from Coser, 1977:132-136).

These are the most common types of suicide, although Durkheim also gave some other examples of the social causes of suicide, such as altruistic suicide, which is the opposite of anomic suicide -- altruistic suicide is caused by too much social regulation, including as individuals who commit suicide to avoid dishonoring their family, or in extreme cases, because social conventions compel them to commit suicide like the Hindu practice of the ritual suicide of widows or Japanese harikiri, where samurai warriors kill themselves if their lord is dishonored ("Individual and society," Sociology at Hewett, excerpted from Coser, 1977:132-136).

orks Cited

Individual and society."…

Works Cited

Individual and society." Sociology at Hewett. Excerpted from Coser, 1977:132-136. Retrieved 8 Oct 2007 at http://www.hewett.norfolk.sch.uk/CURRIC/soc/durkheim/durkw2.htm

Durkheim Four Principles of Deviance

In looking at the four functions of deviance in the context of examples. Namely rock and roll music and marijuana smoking, etc. In the 1950s and 1960s compared to today.

The first function according to Durkheim is that deviance gives affirmation to validate the values and cultural norms that guide behavior in society (Macionis, 2006).

In America a guiding principle of society has always been morality. Since the country was founded on a primary belief in Godly ("In God we Trust") principles of right and wrong. Along with the freedoms that comes with allowing people of all religions to determine their own destinies. With this freedom comes the realization that there will be differences in opinion about behavior and the type of attitudes that accompany a moral premise. If there is a virtue of what is 'acceptable' or good in society there has to be…

References

Digital Dream Door. (2005). Rock n Roll Timeline. Retrieved July 27, 2011 from http://www. digitaldreamdoor. com/pages/best_timeline-r1. html

Henslin, J.M. (1996). Essentials of Sociology. Retrieved July 27, 2011 from Needham

Heights:MA. Publishers Allyn & Bacon,

Macionis, J.J. (2006). The Basics of Society. Prentice Hall. Pearson Education. Edition 5.

Durkheim were alive today, what elements in the post-industrial world would he say are representative of "mechanical solidarity" and what elements represent "organic solidarity?" Could his theory account for both of these co-existing in post-modern society? Why or why not?

According to Ritzer, the sociologist Emile Durkheim viewed human solidarity under two basic divisions or constructs. The first is that of mechanical solidarity. If solidarity is a form of social cohesion, mechanical solidarity is based upon a sense of physical likeness or ritual similarities between individuals in any particular society. It is dependent on shared customs routines. Although Durkheim usually discusses this concept amongst prehistoric societies and suggests that the need for this solidarity has decreased in post-modernity, this may not be the case -- as much as the sociologist might have liked.

Firstly, the adoption of 'trends' from the street and the mechanical, commonly shared rituals of commuting to…

It causes more days that people are not in work and productive than any other single factor. What an astounding figure -- my mind boggles: $300 billion, or $7,500 per employee, is spent annually in America on stress-related compensation claims, decreased productivity, absenteeism, health insurance costs, direct medical expenses (almost 50% higher for workers who report stress), and employee turnover. o compensate for the loss in productivity, organizations are driving people harder to remain competitive and successful. his, naturally, increases the stress even more on the personnel. What a horrible situation. Now, job stress is even called "an epidemic."

his situation saddens me greatly. Will American society continue to break down so greatly that it can no longer be cohesive? Where people will rely only on their individual (and selfish) basic needs (as this social scientist Abraham Maslow described) without regard for the larger social issues? I read that there…

This situation saddens me greatly. Will American society continue to break down so greatly that it can no longer be cohesive? Where people will rely only on their individual (and selfish) basic needs (as this social scientist Abraham Maslow described) without regard for the larger social issues? I read that there has been some response by individuals and organizations regarding this stress.

For example, in 2003, it was mandated that all 7,800 medical residency programs comply with new limits on work hours. Guidelines issued by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education limit resident hours to a maximum of 80 hours a week. Programs that do not comply can lose their accreditation. Federal rules for truck drivers -- the first major change since 1939 -- requires truckers to increase their time for resting from eight to ten in a 24-hour period. In most situations, the total amount of time a driver can be on duty is dropping from 15 to 14 hours (still to many, I believe). Many organizations are instituting "flex time" (another great term!), where employees can come in earlier or work later depending on their personal needs. The computer is also changing this situation. More people are working out of their homes. I hear that one of your largest and once most traditional companies, IBM, began a "Telework" program to increase job satisfaction and thus productivity. Work being done from home is everything from administrative to what you call programming (whatever that is!). IBM reports that this move has helped retain key employees, resulted in higher morale and had no significant impact on customers.

I am pleased to see that such a changes as telecommunications are making people less stressful and more positive about their jobs and their lives. I only question what this separation of individual from a social job setting will do in the future. On the one hand, your world is becoming flatter and people are moving from one place to another with ease. Your population is becoming much more diverse, which will greatly impact (I hope to the positive) a mindset regarding diversity. On the other hand, people are becoming more and more separated physically with the Internet and telecommunications. Also, your houses are being built purposely to be secluded from neighbors (what did you poet Robert Frost say about fences making good neighbors?) reserve judgment on what this major change will do to the fragmentation of society. I do know that many changes will have to come in order to make people believe that they are still part of a greater society, although they are sitting alone in their room in their house. People have to believe that they are part of and have an impact on their society. Otherwise, there is no more an organic whole keeping everyone together.

His underlying interest was to understand the basic forms of religious life for all societies. In Elementary Forms, Durkheim argues that the totems the aborigines venerate are actually expressions of their own conceptions of society itself. This is true not only for the aborigines, he argues, but for all societies (ibid).

eligion, for Durkheim, is not "imaginary," although he does deprive it of what many believers find essential. eligion is very real; it is an expression of society itself, and indeed, there is no society that does not have religion. We perceive as individuals a force greater than ourselves, which is our social life, and give that perception a supernatural face. We then express ourselves religiously in groups, which for Durkheim makes the symbolic power greater. eligion is an expression of our collective consciousness, which is the fusion of all of our individual consciousnesses, which then creates a reality of…

References

Cotterrell, R. (1999). Emile Durkheim: Law in a Moral Domain. Sanford, CA: Stanford

Univ. Press. p243.

Emile, D. (1947). Extract from the Division of Labor. New York, NY: The Free Press.

pp1-7).

The Sociological Method
The sociological method was viewed very differently by Emile Durkheim and Max Weber. One focused on objectivity, the other on subjectivity. The consequences of their different methodological principles in terms of each author’s understanding of society can be found in how people today view, discuss, think about and manage the development of society. Durkheim’s methodology helped lead to the establishment of the use of statistics in social analysis and the management of what the Frankfurt School would go on to call the culture industry, as the prime dictator of social facts. Adorno and Horkheimer were more influenced by Weber’s antipositivism, however, and Weber’s methodology helped lead to the formation not only of the Frankfurt School but also of the Austrian School of economics, which acknowledged the problem of accurately determining the relative value of goods for which reason no centralized planned economy could ever work efficiently in…

Emile Durkheim came to prominence at a time when Europe was attempting to redefine itself. It had already experienced a significant and major break with the past (its customs and traditions) during the Protestant Reformation in the 15th and 16th centuries, when Catholic Europe splintered apart. The Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment that followed led to a new rationalist spirit in Europe (England and France in particular), which served as the basis of modernism. A counter-swing (and prelude to post-modernism) was the Romantic Era, out of which Durkheim emerged in France -- a beneficiary of the Enlightenment doctrine's emphasis on rationalism and the Romantic Era's emphasis on imagination, and feeling. As French society attempted to redefine itself in the wake of political chaos (the Napoleonic Wars had destabilized the country), Durkheim offered a new approach to the science of society -- sociology -- and he became, so to speak, the father…

It almost seems that people communicate more by phone, cell phone, email and the Internet than they do in person. Almost every where in the world there is some type of violence or the threat of war. In the United States, stress is mounting as people are concerned about the problems with the war, mounting costs of oil, food and other commodities, and the questionable economy. The road rage is entering other areas, as people rush through the drive-ups, grocery stores and drug stores to quickly pick up what they need and hurry off again. To Durkheiim, this was called anomie.

Durkheim wrote of the effect of anomie on human goals and the resulting happiness. As social restraints weaken, people decrease their limits upon their desires and aspirations. In the past, their goals were limited by social order, but now these goals are becoming out of hand -- look at…

References

Durkheim, Emile. (1933.) the Division of Labor in Society translated by George Simpson. New York: The Free Press.

Durkheim, Emile. (1951.) Suicide: A Study in Sociology translated by George Simpson and John a. Spaulding. New York: The Free Press.

As in Durkheim's day, persons often come to cities, leaving family and home behind to seek their fortunes but only find loneliness. Also, one would also expect to see suicides more often in college students and young worker who traveled far from their original homes, and were unable to adapt to a new community. These persons are often forced to form social ties with strangers, and forced to create a new schema of values that might conflict with their parental values. If unable to do so, they may feel unable to return to their own way of life, but seem to have no future.

Rural communities might also show high levels of suicide, if sufficiently isolated from nearby towns, and if populated by houses that are sparsely, rather than closely located together and discourage community ties. These communities could be just as lonely as urban apartments. Diverse communities, without social…

Works Cited

Durkheim, Emile. (1951) Suicide: A Study in Sociology. Translated by George Simpson and John A. Spaulding. New York: The Free Press.

Durkheim called the unfortunate mental state produced by modernity "anomie." Anomie is best expressed as the state of alienation felt by the modern urbanite, dwelling far away from traditional family structures and religious rituals. "Anomie is impossible whenever interdependent organs are sufficiently in contact and sufficiently extensive. If they are close to each other, they are readily aware, in every situation, of the need which they have of one another, and consequently they have an active and permanent feeling of mutual dependence." (Durkheim, p.184, cited by Dunman, 1996)

In contrast to eber, rather than fearing too many constraints as a result of industrialization, Durkheim believed that the dangers of alienation lay in having no connections or confines within accepted laws of family, culture, and traditional governance. (Dunman, 1999) Durkheim felt that a lack of societal limits on behavior in an anonymous, modern society led to sadness and despair, which he…

Works Cited

Dunman, Joe. "The Emile Durkheim Archive." Created 1996. Updated 2003. [12 Jul 2006]

 http://durkheim.itgo.com/anomie.html 

Elwell, Frank. "Max Weber's Home Page." 1996. [12 Jul 2006]

 http://www.faculty.rsu.edu/~felwell/Theorists/Weber/Whome.htm

662). In other words, individuals coalesce around environments repetitively to form the collective. The collective structure stays even when the individual is alone. This is close to the collective representations of Durkheim, but it is based on innate or genetic structures that connect during the repetition of social encounters (which in Allport are not religious). The social bonding function is similar: "The collective-structure event-format (so called 'reality of the group') is thus preserved, though the particular contacts of individuals may vary in space, time, and number" (Allport, 1955, p. 662).

This interweaving with the collective has lasting effects on the individual structure. He says, "It is also worth noting that the collective structure itself is often represented, usually in a schematic or abridged format, in the meaning-cycles of the individuals involved, on the basis of their contacts with other individuals in the regular and repetitive course of the structure's operation"…

Bibliography

Allport, F.H. (1955). Theories of perception and the concept of structure: a review and critical analysis with an introduction to a dynamic-structural theory of behavior. New York: John Wiley.

Durkheim, E. (1984). The Division of labor in society W.D. Halls, Trans. New York: Free Press.

____. (1915). The Elementary forms of religious life J.W. Swain, Trans. New York: Free Press.

____. (1938). The Rules of sociological method S.A. Solovay & J.H Mueller, Trans. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Individuals can find some sanctuary in the diverse population of urban areas. Unlike small family groups, which enforce social restrictions much tighter, larger urban areas give their inhabitants more freedom to explore diverse paths without fear of judgment or social outcast. More subgroups within a population lead to more individual exploration with fewer worries than lesser populated areas.

orks Cited

Coser, Lewis a. "Georg Simmel: Biographical Information." 1977. Sociology in Switzerland. Retrieved on November 28, 2007 at http://socio.ch/sim/bio/htm

Durkheim, Emile. "hat is Social fact?" The Rules of the Sociological Method. Free Press. New York. 1982. pp.50-59. Retrieved on November 27, 2007 at http://www.faculty.rsu.edu/~felwell/Theoryeb/readings/DurkheimFactForm.html

Emile-Durkheim.com. "Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)." Retrieved on November 27, 2007 at http://emile-durkheim.com

Elwell, Frank. The Sociology of Max eber. 1996. Retrieved on November 27, 2007 at http://www.faculty.rsu.edu/~felwell/Theorist/eber/whome.htm

Marx, Karl. "Bourgeoisie and Proletariat." The Communist Manifesto. Retrieved on November 27, 2007 at http://media.pfeiffer.edu/lridener/courses/COMMAN.htmL

Simmel, Georg. The Metropolis and Mental…

Works Cited

Coser, Lewis a. "Georg Simmel: Biographical Information." 1977. Sociology in Switzerland. Retrieved on November 28, 2007 at  http://socio.ch/sim/bio/htm 

Durkheim, Emile. "What is Social fact?" The Rules of the Sociological Method. Free Press. New York. 1982. pp.50-59. Retrieved on November 27, 2007 at  http://www.faculty.rsu.edu/~felwell/TheoryWeb/readings/DurkheimFactForm.html 

Emile-Durkheim.com. "Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)." Retrieved on November 27, 2007 at  http://emile-durkheim.com 

Elwell, Frank. The Sociology of Max Weber. 1996. Retrieved on November 27, 2007 at  http://www.faculty.rsu.edu/~felwell/Theorist/Weber/whome.htm

Goffman, Mead, Parsons and Durkheim about way people behave in society. It has 2 sources.

During the 19th century and the 20th century, the emergence of the industrialization has introduced a new breed of family structure that we have come to know as the nuclear family. Social theorists like Talcott Parsons, GH Mead and Goffman all attempt to define the roles of women and men in this new society by redefining their roles. According to Parsons, the industrialized nations have given rise to the nuclear family in which men and women have equal roles in their family. The women have an expressive leadership role while the men have instrumental leadership roles. Yet these designated roles did not come about easily. Erving Goffman for example explains that social roles come with individual perceptions. People have certain ideologies for behaving the way they do. These are communicated through body language as well…

References

Coser, Emile Durkheim: The Work. 1977. Pp. 129-132.

Farganis, James, Readings in Social Theory. 3rd ed. 2000.

collective ideals, religion is reinforced through ceremonies and rituals," (Calhoun, et al., 2012, p. 199). One of the most important ceremonies that reinforces cultural norms and institutions is the wedding ceremony. I had the opportunity to attend a wedding at a church recently, providing an opportunity to analyze Durkheim's sociological theories and apply them to daily life. I selected this ritual because I do not attend many other rituals that have a religious context like this one, and because I have attended two other weddings and none of the three were from the same religious tradition. Therefore, my observations highlight some of Durkheim's core theories about the ways social bonds are reinforced through ritual, regardless of the technical manifestations of those rituals. My observations also show how even in modern, secular societies, the concept of the "sacred" remains salient for individuals and their communities.

The wedding I attended took place…

References

Calhoun, C. et al. (2012). Classical Sociological Theory. 3rd edition. Oxford: Blackwell.

Greenwald, D.E. (1973). Durkheim on society, thought, and ritual. Sociological Analysis 34(3): 157-168.

Lynch, G. (2012). Emile Durkheim: religion, the very idea. The Guardian. Dec 24, 2012. Retrieved online:  http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/dec/24/emile-durkheim-religion-ritual-ancient-modern

The Kula provides a different perspective on the purpose and function of economics. One could imagine our ancient ancestors beginning trade as a social event. When we lived in small bands, every band was self-sufficient and had to supply their own basic needs. I had never thought of economics as a purely social function until reading this article. It changed my perspective on the purpose of economics.

Article Summary #14

Radcliffe-rown, a. (1940. On Joking Relationships. In Anthropological Theory: An Introductory Theory. Fourth Edition. R. McGee and Richard Warms. McGraw Hill.

Joking and teasing is a cultural construct that has different rules among different cultures. The purpose of this article is to examine the purpose and function of joking relationships among African Tribes. The author discovered that joking relationships among in-laws helps to relieve tension and diffuse what could be volatile social relations. Joking is not random and has a…

Bibliography

Anthropological Theory: An Introductory Theory. Fourth Edition. R. McGee and Richard Warms. McGraw Hill

Emile Durkheim is regarded as one of the proverbial founding fathers of sociological research and theory. The two main works of his that can easily be considered his most brilliant and affecting works are The ules of Sociological Method and The Division of Labor in Society. This particular report focuses on a particular article that was written for and appeared in a scholarly journal article in 2011. The article spoke of Durkheim's theories and how the theory and practice of society very much confirm and verify the assertions that Durkheim made. Specifically, the article focuses on the Moral Education treatise offered by Durkheim. While sociological theory and insight is not an exact science is far from definitive even in the modern day, it is clear to anyone who would pay attention why Durkheim is held in the same fairly high to very high regard as other sociological theories such as…

References

Prus, R. (2011). Examining Community Life 'in the Making': Emile Durkheim's Moral

Education. American Sociologist, 42(1), 56-111. doi:10.1007/s12108-010-9119-5

Fathers of Sociology

As a discipline, sociology is relatively young. Therefore, many of the great thinkers of the last two centuries have had a tremendous impact on the face of modern sociology. Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, Herbert Spencer, and .E.B. Du Bois all contributed to the historical development of the discipline of sociology. One can see the lasting impact of those contributions in how sociologists approach human behavior in modern American society.

Emile Durkheim may be the man most responsible for transforming sociology from unscientific observations of human behavior into a disciplined science of human behavior. He drew upon Comte's work in sociology, but felt that his foundations were too vague. Instead of vague assertions about human behavior, Durkheim felt that in order for sociology to be a science, it "must study social facts, i.e. aspects of social life that shape our actions as individuals" (Agarwal, N.p.). hile Durkheim's work…

Works Cited

Agarwal, Priya. "What are the major contributions of Emile Durkheim to sociology?" Preserve

Articles. N.p. N.d Web. 30 Sep. 2013.

Crossman, Ashley. "Herbert Spencer." About.com Sociology. N.p. 2013. Web. 30 Sep. 2013.

Crossman, Ashley. "Karl Marx." About.com Sociology. N.p. 2013. Web. 30 Sep. 2013.

Many different views abound on the origins of modern capitalism, causalities that range from economic to political, from religious to cultural, or for some, an amalgamation of societies need to expand and the resources necessary to fuel that expansion. Max Weber's the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is a study of the relationship between the ethics of ascetic Protestantism and the emergence of the spirit of modern capitalism. An ascetic Protestant is one who practices self-denial and self-discipline. Weber argues that the religious ideas of groups such as the Calvinists played a role in creating the capitalistic spirit. Calvinism focused on predestination and God's infinite power, a hierarchical system that transcended religion and moved into economic and social activities.

This is true not only in cases where the difference in religion coincides with one of nationality, and thus of cultural development . . . . The same thing…

REFERENCES

Durkheim, E. (1997). The Division of Labor in Society. New York: Free Press.

____. (2008). The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. New York: Oxford University

Press.

Grusky, D., ed. (2000). Social Stratification: Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological

While in Durkheim's concept of moral density, competition is a pre-existing condition, rationalization and social change in Weber's terms is determined by the enhancement or development of humans in their ability to adapt to their social environment. Competition, although a factor in the individual's social environment, did not become the focus of Weber's process of rationalization, as compared to Durkheim's conceptualization. Marx's dialectical materialism is likened to Durkheim's concept of competition in that through this concept, human society is illustrated to be part of an ongoing history of social change premeditated by class conflict, which emerged out of the unequal control of the mode of production or technology. The relationship between the forces (elite and working classes) and mode of production determine the existence of a class stratification and conflict in the society. This class conflict led to differentiated roles in the society, resulting to formal rationality, and ultimately, after…

Sociology:

Comprehending September 11 attacks through the eyes of Emile Durkheim

This research paper discusses a current event through the eyes of a social theorist. The orks Cited five sources in MLA format.

Societies form individuals and social orders of different kinds produce different individuals. Hence our research paper will revolve around the following thesis statement:

An individual is the product of his/her own society therefore those who take extreme measures to become what they grow to expect themselves to be and those who strive hard to cooperate with certain groups even at the cost of their own lives, do so as a result of the social external forces that are at work. Both social as well as political elements, primarily cultural components play a pivotal role in forming various groups including the main example of terrorist groups and suicide commandos including those that made the orlds' skyscrapers disintegrate into…

Works Cited

Social Problems. Retrieved April 7, 2003 at  http://www.soc.duke.edu/courses/soc11/11syls02.htm 

Arthur & Kroker. Terrorism of Viral Power. CTHEORY THEORY, TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE VOL 24, NO 3.

Achenbach J. THE CLASH; Two professors, two academic theories, one big difference. depending on which is right, September 11 may mark a brief battle against terrorism, or an endless struggle between Islam and the., The Washington Post, 12-16-2001, pp W17.

Goska D. Islam & Terror. Retrieved April 7, 2003 from:  http://answering-islam.org/Terrorism/islam_terror.html

Sociological Theory

Sociology as a field of study entails examining and understanding the behavior of human groups and associated social behavior. In understanding these aspects, the sociologists have, their focus primarily concentrated on the human interactions. These human interactions revolve around how the different social relations influence the behavior and attitudes of the people and how the societies originate, form and change. Human interactions are vast, and so is the field of sociology. It covers virtually all the topics of human life, from gender, race, religion, education, politics, health, group behavior and conformity among others. Sociologist focus on how the society and people influence other people since most personal experiences has their origin from external or social forces.

Sociological imagination

The social and external forces exist within the society in the form of interpersonal relationships between families and friends. Additionally, these relations form from the encounters in the academic, religious,…

References

Schaefer, R.T. (2007). Sociology. Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Ballantine, J.H., & Roberts, K.A. (2010). Our social world: Introduction to sociology. Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press, An Imprint of SAGE Publications.

Giddens, A., & Sutton, P.W. (2009). Sociology. Cambridge, UK: Polity.

King, L., & McCarthy, D. (2009). Environmental sociology: From analysis to action. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.

Classics of Criminology edited by Joseph Jacoby is a collection of documents and essays by expert criminologists. Rather than present the different theories and histories of crime and the formulation of law, Jacoby includes the original writings by the men and women who created them. For example, instead of a summarized account of Jeremy Bentham's "An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation," the entirety of that text is presented in the book. The thesis of the compilation is that "if students read only about and not in criminology, their experience is but secondhand, and their conclusions are determined by textbook authors" (Jacoby 2004). This is why Jacoby does not include his own positions on the essays in the book. He wishes for every reader to view the original documents and formulate their own opinions about what they have read and now understand. There were several interesting and education…

Works Cited:

Bentham, Jeremy (1781). "An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation" Classics

of Criminology. Ed. Joseph Jacoby. 3rd. Waveland.

Durkheim, Emile (1895). "The Normal and the Pathological." Classics of Criminology. Ed.

Joseph Jacoby. 3rd. Waveland.

Macro Theory of Sociology

Regarding The Classical tradition and Social Imagination: Overall, what kinds of messages do we inherit from the "classical tradition"? How does the "sociological imagination" inspire and direct our activities as students and practitioners of the social sciences? How might an understanding of the key ideas of long-dead theorists inform how you live your personal life today? How might a reading of the classics benefit your everyday work life?

The Classical tradition of sociology stresses the importance of rational understanding of one's social and economic purpose in life. In other words, to be a fully functioning human entity in an ethical and moral context, one must be philosophically aware of the way one's social context has evolved, historically, and think critically to create an ethical system of morality. Even though the current postmodern conception of the sociological imagination may not be commensurate with, for instance, all of…

As the roles and functions of religions and their leaders changed according to the changing needs of the communities they served, they provided both stability in times of change as well as the leadership to effect changes as necessary.

Of the three theorists, Marx appears to include the most negative elements in his considerations of religion. It must also be noted however that Marx places more focus on elements other than religion, whereas the other two theorists study religion in itself as it connects with society and its needs. Marx instead viewed religion as one of the elements that could be detrimental in effecting social change when necessary. Durkheim in turn places greater emphasis on the spiritual and esoteric quality of religion than the others, but nevertheless also places it within the context of a society that creates their gods as reflections of themselves. Weber is the most practical of…

Sources

Cox, Judy. An Introduction to Marx's Theory of Alienation. International Socialism, Issue 79, July 1998.  http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/isj79/cox.htm 

Deflem, Mathieu. Max Weber (1864-1920): The Rationalization of Society. Sept 2004.  http://www.cas.sc.edu/socy/faculty/deflem/zClassics.htm 

Dunman, L. Joe. Emile Durkheim: The Division of Labor. 2003.  http://durkheim.itgo.com/divisionoflabor.html 

Townsley, Jeramy. Marx, Weber and Durkheim on Religion. Aug. 2004.  http://www.jeramyt.org/papers/sociology-of-religion.html

In this view, the fact that underprivileged subcultures already promoted a different set of social values emphasizing "street smarts" and toughness instead of socially productive attributes and goals combined with the substitution of deviant role models for father figures is a significant source of criminal conduct, particularly in poor communities (Adler, Mueller & Laufer, 2008).

Other modern sociological perspectives began reconsidering crime and other forms of socially deviant behavior as primarily a function of individual psychology.

However, whereas earlier theories of individual responsibility focused on the role of rational choice, the modern approach viewed crime much more as a function of the cumulative psychological effects on the individual of the consequences of social labeling.

Furthermore, it has been suggested that much of the difference in crime rates in underprivileged communities also relates directly to the different types of characterizations and institutional responses to different types of crime in American society.…

References

John Adler, John Mueller, and John Laufer. Criminology (6th Edition). City, State:

McGraw-Hill, 2008. MLA

Adler J, Mueller J, and Laufer J. (2008). Criminology (6th Edition). City, State: McGraw-Hill. APA

Bethany Moreton's "To serve God and Walmart: The making of Christian free enterprise." (Harvard University Press, 2009)

Author Bethany Moreton's work provides an insight into Walmart's corporate history and its swift climb, within 50 years, from a little discount retail chain opened up by Sam Walton to an international retailing giant. The author goes beyond readers' expectations to include Walmart Country's religious, social, and cultural history (the term 'Walmart Country' would refer to its politically charged birthplace and surroundings of East Oklahoma, north-western Arkansas, and south Missouri). It is a place where the retailer's customers, supervisors and staff collaborate with missionaries, evangelical housewives, and pastors, within a doctrine of free enterprise and community service.

Moreton has penned an in-depth and captivating analysis of the popular global retail giant, America's largest private-sector employer, and the largest global public company. Through an elaborate case study, the author has effectively assimilated its cultural…

Industrial evolution: esult of an Agricultural evolution?

The Industrial evolution which began in Great Britain in the eighteenth century, and still continues in certain parts of the world, is considered by some historians to be the most significant transformation in the economic environment of human civilization after the Neolithic evolution. There are a number of reasons that triggered and sustained the transformation of an agriculture-based economy to an industrial-based economy, but perhaps the most significant was the occurrence of an 'Agriculture evolution' in Britain in the century following 1750. In this essay, I shall discuss why this was so, besides describing the following:

The causes and outcome of the Agricultural evolution

Features of the Industrial evolution

The Social Consequences of the Industrial evolution

Karl Marx and Emile Durkhiem's theories about the Industrial evolution

How an Agricultural evolution in Britain triggered the Industrial evolution?

Most historians are in agreement that the…

References

Ashton, T.S. (1997). The Industrial Revolution, 1760-1830. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

The Four Field System." (2004) Open Door Website. Retrieved on September 14, 2004 at  http://www.saburchill.com/history/chapters/IR/003f.html 

Jones, R.A. (1986) Emile Durkheim: An Introduction to Four Major Works. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Marx, Karl and Engels, Friedrich. (1894) "The Communist Manifesto." The Project Gutenberg Etext. Retrieved on September 14, 2004 at http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext93/manif12.txt

The popular media's negative coverage of the insanity defense in contested cases when a defendant claims not to have the rational capacity to commit a crime or has a diminished capacity to conceptualize a criminal intent has caused the public to dismiss forensic psychiatry as providing rationalizations or excuses for bad behavior, rather than possessing a real scientific method. The use of the insanity defense is clearly subject to sociological and societal factors, such as the statistically greater willingness to believe a man who kills his child is competent vs. A woman. However, the authors contend that this ignores the many cases where the defense and the prosecution both agree that the criminal in question was not competent and was operating upon a different schema of 'reality' that affected his or her ability to judge circumstances in the same fashion as a sane person. (It might be argued, in the…

From this perspective, the field of sociology is involved in the analysis of the patterns of these interactions. Therefore, for Simmel Sociology is more than just the study of "natural laws." Simmel also emphasized the study of small groups. This differed for the classical theorists like Durkheim and Marx.

The primary contemporary interest in Simmel's work stems from the analysis of individual action within the ambit of the structural approach. An essential difference between Simmel's view of sociological analysis and other major theorists is that while theorists like Durkheim considered the aim of sociology to be the creation of logical and inclusive overarching theoretical constructs, Simmel viewed society, as it were, from the bottom up: with the focus on the way that smaller groups and individuals interact. This approach is more in line with contemporary phenomenological and existential theories.

It is in this light that a reassessment of the work…

Bibliography

Durkheim E. " Sociology and its Scientific Field, in K.H. Wolff (editor), Essays on Sociology and Philosophy by Emile Durkheim et al., New York: Harper and Row (1964). pp. 354 -75.

Anomie and Alienation

Lost, With No Possibility of Being Found

Running through the literature of classical late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century sociology are themes of isolation, of the poverty of life lived in isolated cells, of the fragility of a life in which we can almost never make authentic connections with other people, in which we are lost even to ourselves. We have -- and this "we" includes the entire population of the industrialized world, or at least most of it -- have raised the act of rationalism to an art form, but along the way we have lost so much of our humanity that we can no longer form or maintain a community. Four of the major social critics of the twentieth century took up these themes for essentially the same reason: To argue that while ailing human society could be transformed in ways that would give it meaning…

health care debate that has been going in the United States. It discusses the Obama Care Act and how it impacts the society. Functionalist perspectives and theories are utilized in analyzing the situation and what outcomes are expected. The major themes and concepts of the functionalist theory are discussed in detail.

The Health Care reform proposed by the Obama Administration has long been the area of debate in America and in countries all over the world. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act go on to cut down the number of people who are not insured. It requires small businesses to provide medical insurance to all the people working in the business. The employers are obliged to provide a good quality medical insurance. Failure of the small business to provide a good health care system will result in a penalty for any employee that goes uninsured. This act applies to…

References

Berkman, L. et al. (2000) from social integration to health: Durkheim in the new millennium. Social Science & Medicine 51 (2000), 51 p.843-857.

Gerhardt, U. (1979) The Parsonian paradigm and the identity of medical sociology. The Sociological Review, 27 (2), p.229-251.

Napsha, J. (2011) Small Business Owners Fret over Health Care Law's Fallout . Tribune-Review/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 24th March.

Unknown. (2012) Supreme Court Ruling Dooms Small Business; Obamacare Increases Taxes and Red Tape Burden . The Washington Times, 29th June.

Theoretical Argument

Crime is a normative aspect of any social construct. That however does not in any way imply that a criminal is a set of or his psychological and biological endowments, if that may be called so. These are actually two very different queries on altogether different premises. The differentiation is better captured when sociological pursuits (fraud, slander, calumny, insults, etc.) are ingrained into the discussion about criminality. It also discount the fact that criminality should be looked down upon, though crimes are an accepted social construct. In ways similar to an individual avoiding pain, so does the society abhor crime. As an extension, similarly as pain cannot be wished away and does form a feature of life, so does criminality about a social structure. That is however not at all to defend crime. Such a posit would be against the moral obligations that has tangible outcomes and become…

References

Emile Durkheim, (2008). The normal and the pathological, Oxford University Press.

The emphasis on social stability, as seen in many institutions' suspicion regarding social change, can lead to the perpetuation of social inequality. In some instances, there is even a stronger link between religion and power structures.

The caste system in India privileges the rights of the priestly class. However, political leaders in India have also formed strong ties with the Brahmin class. These ties serve to "legitimize" the power in the political government.

Evaluating conflict theory

Conflict theory provides several important insights regarding the conservative role that religion has played in society. McGuire and Collins' study provide specific cases that uphold Marx's original premise. These studies show how conflict thinking still remains relevant, even until today.

However, the emphasis on the conservative and status quo orientation of religion also glosses over religion's liberating potential. Theologians like Gustavo Gutierrez, a priest who served in a Peruvian slum in the 1960s, argued…

Works Cited

Collins, Randall (1981). Sociology since mid century: Essays in theory cumulation. New York: Academic Press.

Durkheim, Emile. (1912). The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. New York: Oxford University Press

Hunter, James Davison. (1983). American evangelicalism: Conservative religion and the quandary of modernity. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

Lawson, R. (1998). From American church to immigrant church: the changing face of seventh-day Adventism in metropolitan new York. Sociology of Religion, Winter 1998. Retrieved Oct 23, 2004, at  http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0SOR/is_4_59/ai_53590308 .

shift from agrarian to industrial society a simple substitution of one form of economic behavior for another, hanging up the hat of the farmer to put on the hat of the factory worker. But there was in fact a substantial shift in nearly everything about daily life for those generations caught up in the transition from rural to urban worlds. The most obvious change was in the relationship between people and the land itself. No longer were people defined by their place of birth, by where they had always lived. They were defined - by others as well as themselves - by a series of portable skills.

The magnitude of this change is difficult for those of us who have grown up in a world in which mobility is the norm. But it must have been for those living at the beginning of the Industrial evolution a shattering (as well…

References

Bensel, R. (2001). The political economy of American industrialization, 1877-1900.

Cambridge: Cambridge University.

Carter, G. (ed.). (2000). Empirical approaches to sociology: A collection of classic and contemporary readings (3rd ed.). New York: Allyn & Bacon.

Durkheim, E. (G. Simpson, trans.). (1971). "Social Order and Control Via Close Social Ties: The Example of Suicide" in Suicide: A study in sociology. New York: The Free Press.

Accordingly, the significance of the application of the conflict perspective to American food is that its accuracy is so blatantly valid that it has progressed almost unnoticed through our nation's history. Out of the philosophical roots of Marx, conflict theory has evolved and broadened its scope; today, it is most commonly used to evaluate the legal system, but the core conflict remains that between the proletariats and the owners of the means of production. In this way, the conflicts surrounding the exponentially expanding fast food industry reach between the working class and the social elite. McDonalds's, in particular, represents one of the most glaring examples of how the social elite in society have managed to package, sell, and justify their prominent position in American society to the masses.

The central premise of social conflict theory is that individuals and groups within society generally use their power -- as much of…

Works Cited

Amaladoss, Michael. "Global Homogenization: Can Local Cultures Survive?" 2006. Available:

 http://www.sedos.org/english/amaladoss2.html .

Berger, Peter L. Invitation to Sociology. New York: Anchor Books, 1963.

Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1999.

Suicide and Society

Suicide: An Individual Phenomenon or a Societal Construct?

Statistics show that suicide rates in the U.S. are highly predictable. It is annually expected each year that over 30,000 suicides will occur, as compared to about 17,000 homicides. This stable and predictable estimate of suicide rate stems from a precise analysis of social factors describing four separate categories of suicidal influences: egoistic, altruistic, anomic, and fatalistic. According to the functionalist theory described by Emile Durkheim, rates are social facts based on other established social facts, and thus have a sociological basis. As suicide rates are social facts, Durkheim set out to provide an empirical basis of social explanation regarding suicide, providing a far different account of trends than the previously perceived notion that suicide is based purely on individual or psychological reasons. Thus, the phenomenon of what actually motivates the occurrence of suicide can be examined from a…

Bibliography

Dunman LJ. "Suicide." The Emile Durkheim Archive. 2003. The Bettmann Archive. 18 Mar. 2004.  http://durkheim.itgo.com/suicide.html 

Henslin JM. Down to Earth Sociology, 12th Edition. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2003.

Knapp P. "The Functionalist Analysis of Deviance." Peter Knapp Homepage. 1994. Villanova

University. 18 Mar. 2004. www94.homepage.villanova.edu/peter.knapp/Intro1-24.ppt

Religion is an analysis of seven works that the author, Daniel Pals, believes have shaped the understanding of religion in the past century. These theories represent seminal attempts to see religion in its social context as a system of values and beliefs, something that would be popularized by French structuralists and students of myth and semiotics in the last half of the 20th century. The theories reviewed put forth a 'scientific approach to religion' that 'first caught the imagination of serious scholars' in the 19th century. (pg. 10) These theories 'exercised a shaping influence not only on religion but on the whole intellectual culture of our century.' Some of the names put to us are familiar to us, such as Freud and Marx, whereas others are more obscure, such as Tylor and Frazer, Emile Durkheim, Mircea Eliade, E.E. Evans-Pritchard, and Clifford Geertz. The author picks what might be called the…

individual in society: To what extent are individuals the product of society?

The idea of 'the individual' has become such an accepted construct in modern life it is easy to forget that the idea of an isolated, all-important private and individual 'self' is a relatively new development in human sociological thought. Even today, human beings define themselves, not simply as individual selves, but as persons who must function within particular social contexts of family, work, and school. Quite often, when one asks 'who am I,' one's societal roles of child or parent, worker or employee, or student formulate one's answer. But although societal ideals and ideas have produced the modern notion of the individual as an isolated, psychologically contained essence, this idea has grown so powerful that even as societal institutions of church and education continue to shape the collective, individual persons now seek a sense of empowerment and actualization…

Works Cited.

Abercrombie, N. And Warde, A. Contemporary British Society. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2000.

Durkheim, Emile. Suicide, 1929.

Freud, Sigmund. Freud's Collected Writings, 1924.

Marsh I. Sociology: Making sense of Society. 2000.

(40) The foundation of the story demonstrates the social pull of religion as a way of life, that is inclusive, despite its obvious contradictions to the modern world, belief systems and economy. In a sense the social desire to fit in and be seen as different are met by the acceptance of the church as a lifestyle. According to Durkheim, "Deep down, no religion is false.... Each in its own way is true, for each answers given conditions of human life."

Blend et al. 30)

Max eber also committed a great deal of his life and scholarship to the sociology of religion, affirming repeatedly that religion must exist to transform society into a moral society, rather than one that meets the conditions of the natural instincts of man, being amoral in the sense that they are often simply self serving, yet he also reiterated the importance of studying the ways…

Works Cited

Blend, Charles, et al. Emile Durkheim, 1858-1917: A Collection of Essays, with Translations and a Bibliography. Ed. Kurt H. Wolff. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 1960.

Sharlet, Jeff, "Through a Glass, Darkly: How the Christian Right is Reimagining U.S. History" 33-43.

Turner, Bryan S. Max Weber: From History to Modernity. London: Routledge, 1993.

Wood, Richard L. Introduction to Politics and Religion

United States has the highest rate of confinement of prisoners per 100,000 population than any other Western country. Analyze this phenomena and discuss actions that you feel are necessary to combat this problem.

The United States currently has the highest incarceration rate of any nation worldwide. For example, greater than 60% of nations have incarceration rates below 150 per 100,000 people (Walmsley, 2003). The United States makes up just about five percent of the world's population and yet it houses 25% of the world's prison population (Walmsley, 2009). In 2008 there were more than 2.3 million people held in United States prisons and jails, a rate of approximately 754 inmates per 100,000 people (Sabol, West, & Cooper, 2009). So if we only count adults in the population that translates into a one in 100 American adults is locked up. ussia is the only other major industrialized nation that comes close…

References

American Psychiatric Association (APA, 2002). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th Ed.). Arlington, VA: Author.

Breggin, P.A. (2008). Brian disabling treatments in psychiatry: Drugs, electroshock, and the psychopharmaceutical complex. (2nd Edition) New York: Springer University

Press.

Burton, R. (2002). The Irish institute of nutrition and health. In Diet and criminality.

Any one who tried to gain enough power and wealth would be considered a threat to the power of the church and was therefore quickly deposed of their wealth.

Weber proposed that even though Catholics tolerated a greater display of outward wealth, Protestant doctrines asked the followers to concentrate on mundane pursuits. It also asks its followers to accept a lower station in life without a hierarchical structure to force the issue. There were no examples of upward mobility or examples of extravagance to follow. The Protestant faith in promoted a pride in one's work and the "work and Save" ethic. The members were self-motivated, not forced into submission by the Church. This was a key difference between these two philosophies. Weber claimed that this attitude was much more productive than the Catholic idea of wealth attainment. The Calvinists had a word which meant ones calling, or duty on earth.…

Bibliography

Ashley, D. And Orenstein, D. 1995. Sociological Theory: Classical Statements, third edition, Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Baechler, J. 1988. The Cradle of Capitalism: the Case of England

John A. Hall & Michael Mann, Europe and the Rise of Capitalism (Blackwell, 1988).

Bendix, R. 1977  http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0520031946&id=63sC9uaYqQsC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&sig=g-kn8gtBIRvG-ss0I_-BmrBz9YE " Max Weber: An Intellectual Portrait. University of California Press.

Anthony Giddens defines prejudice as "the holding of preconceived ideas about an individual or group, ideas that are resistant to change even in the face of new information."

Examples of the worst form of prejudice include American slavery during the first two centuries of this country and the extermination of millions of Jewish people by the Nazis during World War II. In both of these cases, the blacks and Jews were seen as lower forms of humans or even non-human. Unfortunately, prejudice against the blacks and Jews continues to this day. They are often considered "scapegoats," or blamed for things they have not done.

In this same vein, stigmatize, according to Tony Bilton (1996) is "a process of experience in which some form of social behavior or attribute is subject to social disapproval and becomes discredited, resulting in a spoiled identity in the eyes of others and possible exclusion from…

References

Bilton, T. (1996) Introductory Sociology, London: Macmillan

Giddens, a. (1997) Sociology. London: Polity Press.

Pickering, AJS (1991). Emile Durkheim. Critical Assessments of Leading Sociologists. London: Routeledge.

Straus, R. (1994) Using Sociology. New York: Rowman and Littlefield.

Merton also incorporated Durkheim's observations of the difference between intrinsic motivation for work and economic profit and purely superficial extrinsic motivation for the tangible trappings of success and/or social status. Since post-Industrial evolution social values tended to focus so much more on acquisition and less on contributing to society through work, individuals experiencing psychosocial strains from the lack of available opportunities for legitimate work often sought to acquire the same outward social status through deviant and criminal means (Schmalleger, 2008).

The documentary traced the evolution of organized neighborhood protection and political rights organizations in vast criminal enterprises after the discovery of the economic profit potential associated with selling illicit narcotics. In Los Angeles, a parasitic relationship developed wherein the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) extracted protection money from the gangs while simultaneously increasing their official budget to upgrade their facilities and equipment on the basis of the increasing firepower and…

References

Gerrig, R., Zimbardo, R. (2005). Psychology and Life/. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Henslin, J. (2002). Essentials of Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Macionis, J.J. (2003). Sociology. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Schmalleger, F. (2007). Criminal Justice Today: An Introductory Text for the 21st

VI. DURKHEIM'S ANOMIE

Another theory in criminology is known as 'Durkheim's Anomie' which was conceived by Emile Durkheim, a French sociologist who first introduced the anomie in the work entitled: "The Division of Labor in Society" in which the anomie was utilized in provides a description of a "condition of deregulation that was occurring in society." (Criminological Theory, 2001) This anomie was used to describe how that the mores' of behavior in society was unclear and due to this breakdown in a code of proper social behavior resulting was the 'anomie' or the failure to know what to expect between individuals. It was posited by Durkheim that: "...societies evolved form a simple, nonspecialized form, called 'mechanical' toward a highly complex, specialized form, called 'organic. In the former society people behave and think alike and more or less perform the same work tasks and have the same group-oriented goals. When societies…

Bibliography

Demelo, Diane (2008) Criminological Theory. Online available at  http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/200/Diane_Demelo/diane.pdf 

Perkins, Douglas D.; Hughey, Joseph and Speer, Paul W. (2002) Community Psychology Perspectives on Social Capital Theory and Community Practice. Journal of the Community Development Society. Vol. 33 No. 1. Online available at http://www.people.vanderbilt.edu/~douglas.d.perkins/JCDS.02.pdf

Cowling Mark (2006) Postmodern Policies? The Erratic Interventions of Constitutive Criminology. Internet Journal of Criminology. 2006. Online available at  http://www.internetjournalofcriminology.com/Cowling%20-%20Postmodern%20Policies.pdf 

Aim of Criminology

Communication

Review of Student PowerPoint

The paper evaluates a PowerPoint summarizing a workshop given at Murdoch University by Dave Palmer in 2009. The workshop addressed the community building movement, an initiative that has gained popularity in Australia.

Slide three stated introduces a group of four students, although while these are presumably the authors of the PowerPoint, this is never explicitly stated and should be explained clearer. Slide 5 ("Introduction by Dave), which discussed the impetus for Mr. Palmer's presentation (the Aboriginal emphasis on the land and the need to return to this state) also included a picture of the presenter, which usefully allows one to connect the information with the face of the person delivering the material. Still, there was an almost excessive amount of text in this slide, and it would have been helpful for it to have been condensed. This set the standard for a dynamic in which…

Works Cited

Adams, David, & Michael Hess. "Community in Public Policy: Fad or Foundation," Australian Journal of Public Administration, 60, No.2 (2001). 13-23.

Archer, David, & Wearing, Stephen. "Interpretation and marketing as management tools in national parks: Insights from Australia," Journal of Retail and Leisure Property, No.2 (2009). 29-39.

Birnbaum, David J., & Frey, Barbara A., "Learners' Perception on the Value of PowerPoint in Lectures," Publisher Unknown, (2002).

Craig, Russell J., & Amernic, Joel H. "PowerPoint Presentations and the Dynamics of Teaching," Innovative Higher Education, 31, No.3 (2006). 147-160.

It was originally established in the early 19th century by Auguste Comte who tried to unify history, psychology and economics through an understanding of society as a broad paradigm. Emile Durkheim took this a bit further and focused on the way societies could maintain a sort of integrity within the modern work where past cultural trends (religion, ethnicity, etc.) were no longer the singular part of society. His view, which has become the modern view of sociology, surrounded questions of what binds individuals together as a formal group (society) and what happens to this group both collectively and for the individual. This is a broad discipline as well, and clearly an academic response to the modern age (industrialization, urbanization, secularization, etc.). The field looks at social rules, the way those rules were formed, and the way that individuals coalesce into groups, communities, institutions, and even powerful social organizations that transcend…

Works Cited

American Anthropological Association. (2012, January). What is Anthropology. Retrieved from aaanet.org:  http://www.aaanet.org/about/WhatisAnthropology.cfm 

Backhouse, R., & Fontaine, P. (Eds.). (2010). The History of the Social Sciences Since 1945. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Bernard, H. (2011). Research Methods in Anthropology. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press.

Fernald, L. (2008). Psychology: Six Perspectives. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.