Top10 Fascinating Facts about Emile Durkheim

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Top 10 Fascinating Facts about Emile Durkheim

Emile Durkheim was a French sociologist who was born on 15th April 1858 in Epinal, France, to Melanie and Moise Durkheim. He formally established the academic discipline of sociology. He is one of the most influential men in the evolution of sociology. 

Durkheim’s 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 Catholic and Protestant groups.

 Durkheim married Louise Dreyfus in 1887, and they had two children, Marie and André. He died on 15th November 1917.

Here are 10 Fascinating Facts about Emile Durkheim

1. Durkheim Led a Secular Life

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Despite coming from a devout family of French Jews whereby his father, grandfather, and great grandfather were all Rabbis, and attending a rabbi school at an early age, Durkheim chose not to follow in his family’s footsteps.

He switched schools and led a completely secular life. Secular life is to live without believing in anything supernatural be it God, Jesus, hell, or reincarnation.

Most of his work was dedicated to demonstrating that religious phenomena stemmed from social rather than divine factors. Despite this fact, Durkheim did not cut ties with his family or with the Jewish community.

2. Durkheim was the Pioneer of Sociology in France

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During his studies in Germany, Durkheim was involved in the publication of several articles on German social science and philosophy. He was particularly impressed by the work of a German physiologist and philosopher Professor Wilhelm Wundt.

Durkheim’s articles gained recognition in France, and he received a teaching appointment at the University of Bordeaux in 1887, where he taught the university’s first social science course.

He taught both pedagogy and sociology, and this was the very first time Sociology was introduced in a French University.

Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life.

3. Durkheim wrote a book about Suicide

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In the year 1897, Durkheim wrote a book titled ‘Suicide’. He explores the differing suicide rates among Protestants and Catholics, arguing that stronger social control among Catholics results in lower suicide rates. 

Durkheim treated suicide as a social fact, explaining variations in its rate on a macro level, considering society-scale phenomena such as lack of connections between people and lack of regulations of behavior, rather than individual’s feelings and motivations.

He identified four different types of suicide, which include egoistic suicide which happens due to a low level of social integration, altruistic suicide due to too much Integration, anomic suicide due to insufficient amount of social regulation, and fatalistic results from too much regulation. 

4. Durkheim was an Anthropologist

Apart from sociology, philosophy, and Educational and religious studies, Durkheim also studied Anthropology.

Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species.

Social anthropology studies patterns of behavior. Social anthropologists seek to understand how people live in societies and how they make their lives meaningful

5. Durkheim did not Believe in Contractual-like Marriages

Durkheim was a sharp critic of the contractual view of marriage, in which the relationship entails only the two spouses and depends totally on their satisfaction with each other.

In his 1906 book “Divorce by Mutual Consent,” he criticized the liberalization of divorce that many secular intellectuals then advocated for. 

He believed that marriage affects parties beyond the two spouses, mostly their Children. According to Durkheim, Spouses’ responsibility to their children invalidates a divorce model based merely on mutual consent.

6. Durkheim Believed that Sex was Sacred

Durkheim’s vision of a sexual education curriculum was that it should be integrated into a sociological discussion of the “domestic morality,” by considering the institution of marriage through its history and sociological bases.

He argued that if sex is not restricted by institutions that require mutual consideration and respect, it becomes an act in which one individual simply uses another as an instrument of pleasure.  

Durkheim believed that all this indicates that the realm of sex is a realm of the sacred. If we attempt to approach the sacred without ritual preparation and purification, it becomes blasphemy.

7. Durkheim Considered Family as the most Important Social Institution

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While Durkheim is considered to be one of the major social theorists, and his writings are a must-read for all sociologists, one of the significant areas was the sociology of the family.

Durkheim made enough observations on the family as a part of social structure and regarded the family as one of the most important social institutions.

He included the sociology of the family within the broad area of Juridical sociology and the science of moral phenomena, especially in his studies of the division of labor and suicide.

8. Durkheim Believed in Education

Durkheim believed that the education system performs the secondary socialization role as opposed to the primary socialization which is delivered by the family.

While the family passes on particular norms and values, secondary socialization passes on universal norms and values that are shared by broader society.

He believed that secondary socialization infuses social unity. When educated, children learn to see themselves as part of a bigger picture and know that people should work together for common goals.

9. Durkheim was Jewish

Durkheim was born on 15th April 1858 in Epinal, France. His mother’s name was Melanie and his father was Moise Durkheim. His family was Jewish of very moderate means.

He began his education in a Jewish school. However, at an early age, he switched schools, deciding not to follow in his family’s footsteps. He led a completely secular life.

Even though he had gone against his Jewish religion, Durkheim did not cut ties with his family or with the Jewish community. Many of his most prominent collaborators and students were Jewish.

10. Durkheim Died of a Stroke 

The outbreak of World War I left  Durkheim with disastrous effects. Many of his students were drafted into the army and died in the trenches.

His son André, died on the war front in December 1915, the loss was too much for him and he never recovered from it. Emotionally devastated, Durkheim collapsed and died on 15 November 1917.