Emile Durkheim

Emile Durkheim was a french sociologist that lived from 1858-1917. From the time he was born, there had been a civil war, president Lincon was assinated, and Ulysses S. Grant  became president. Durkheim's theoretical contributions range from subjects such as suicide and deviance to education and religion. Durkheim stated that people are the product of thier social mark, and behavior cannot be fully understood in terms of individual biological and physchological traits. One of Durkheim's major contributions was the social facts. The social facts are patterned ways of acting, thinking, and feeling that exist outside any one individual, but that exert social control over each person. Durkheim believed that social facts must be explained by refence to the social structure rather than to individual attributes. Another major contribution Durkheim made is anomie, which is a condition in which social control becomes ineffictive as a result of the loss of shared values and of a sense of purpose in society. According to Durkheim anomie is most likely to accure during a period of rapid social change. Durkheim was interested in studying "social glue" that could hold contemporary socialitys together and provide people with a "sense of belonging".

Emily Reed

Andrew Najm