Durkheim, Émile

(born April 15, 1858, Épinal, France—died Nov. 15, 1917, Paris) French social scientist. He developed a vigorous methodology combining empirical research with sociological theory and is widely regarded as the founder of the French school of sociology. Durkheim was greatly influenced by philosopher Auguste Comte, and his sociological reflections, never remote from the moral philosophy he was schooled in, were first expressed in The Division of Labour in Society (1893) and Suicide (1897). In his view, ethical and social structures were endangered by technology and mechanization. The division of labour produced alienation among workers, and the increased prosperity of the late 19th century generated greed and passions that threatened the equilibrium of society. Durkheim drew attention to anomie, or social disconnectedness, and studied suicide as a decision to renounce life. Following the Dreyfus Affair, he came to regard education and religion as the most potent means of reforming humanity and molding new social institutions. His The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912) is an anthropological study—centring largely on totemism—of the origins and functions of religion, which Durkheim saw as expressing the collective conscience of a society and producing social solidarity. He also wrote influential works on sociological method. He taught at the Universities of Bordeaux (1887–1902) and Paris (1902–17). See also Marcel Mauss.

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