Selected Writings

by Émile Durkheim, Anthony Giddens (Editor)

This 1972 book is a collection of Durkheim's writings drawing upon the whole body of his work. Dr Giddens takes his selections from a wide variety of sources and includes a number of items from untranslated writings in the Revue Philosophique, Annee Sociologique and from L'evolution pedagogue en France. Selections from previously translated writings have been checked against the originals and amended or re-translated where necessary. Dr Giddens arranges his selections thematically rather than chronologically. However, extracts from all phases of Durkheim's intellectual career are represented, giving the date of their first publication, which makes the evolution of his thought easily traceable. In his introduction Dr Giddens discusses phases in the interpretation of Durkheim's thought, as well as the main themes in his work, with an analysis of the effects of his thinking on modern sociology. The book is for students at any level taking courses in sociology, social anthropology and social theory in which Durkheim is one of the major writers studied.

Genres: Sociology, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Politics, Anthropology

284 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1972

About the author

Much of Durkheim's work was concerned with how societies could maintain their integrity and coherence in modernity; an era in which traditional social and religious ties are no longer assumed, and in which new social institutions have come into being. His first major sociological work was The Division of Labor in Society (1893). In 1895, he published his Rules of the Sociological Method and set up the first European department of sociology, becoming France's first professor of sociology.

In 1896, he established the journal L'Année Sociologique. Durkheim's seminal monograph, Suicide (1897), a study of suicide rates amongst Catholic and Protestant populations, pioneered modern social research and served to distinguish social science from psychology and political philosophy. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912), presented a theory of religion, comparing the social and cultural lives of aboriginal and modern societies.

Durkheim was also deeply preoccupied with the acceptance of sociology as a legitimate science. He refined the positivism originally set forth by Auguste Comte, promoting what could be considered as a form of epistemological realism, as well as the use of the hypothetico-deductive model in social science. For him, sociology was the science of institutions,[citation needed] its aim being to discover structural social facts. Durkheim was a major proponent of structural functionalism, a foundational perspective in both sociology and anthropology. In his view, social science should be purely holistic; that is, sociology should study phenomena attributed to society at large, rather than being limited to the specific actions of individuals.

He remained a dominant force in French intellectual life until his death in 1917, presenting numerous lectures and published works on a variety of topics, including the sociology of knowledge, morality, social stratification, religion, law, education, and deviance. Durkheimian terms such as "collective consciousness" have since entered the popular lexicon.

Reviews

[Scott Goddard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excuse my french, but this is an absolute twat of a book. First of, the pages are humongous and the font is miniture, which makes even reading a single page seem like a tough feat. Then you've got bloody Durkheim just putting words together to make what I believe he thought was a point. It is like an Easter egg hunt: you've to keep on looking until you come across you like. Tough but satisfying read - 7.5/10.

(P.S. I gave up with 12 pages to go, my self-motivation had gone out of the window).

[Natalia]

*inextinguishable thirst is a constantly renewed torture
* human activity naturally aspires beyond assignable limits and sets itself unattainable goals
* to pursue a goal which is by definition unattainable is to condemn oneself to a state of perpetual unhappiness
* the more one has, the more one wants, and satisfactions received only stimulate, instead of filling needs

[Kyle Smucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

The godfather. Nuff said.

[Sam Boudreau · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a social fact that this book is great!

[Conor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice overview - but. I feel like I understand Durkheim's limitations more than his contributions through this.