Emile Durkheim: His Life and Work: A Historical and Critical Study

by Steven Lukes

This study of Durkheim seeks to help the reader to achieve a historical understanding of his ideas and to form critical judgments about their value. To some extent these tow aims are contradictory. On the one hand, one seeks to what did Durkheim really mean, how did he see the world, how did his ideas related to one another and how did they develop, how did they related to their biographical and historical context, how were they received, what influence did they have and to what criticism were they subjected, what was it like not to make certain distinctions, not to see certain errors, of fact or of logic, not to know what has subsequently become known?

On the other hand, one seeks to how valuable and how valid are the ideas, to what fruitful insights and explanations do they lead, how do they stand up to analysis and to the evidence, what is their present value? Yet it seems that it is only by inducing oneself not to see and only by seeing them that one can make a critical assessment. The only solution is to pursue both aimsseeing and not seeingsimultaneously. More particularly, this book has the primary object of achieving that sympathetic understanding without which no adequate critical assessment is possible. It is a study in intellectual history which is also intended as a contribution to sociological theory.

Genres: Sociology, Biography, Philosophy, Nonfiction, History, France, Social Science

676 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1973

About the author

Steven Michael Lukes is a political and social theorist. Currently he is a professor of politics and sociology at New York University. He was formerly a professor at the University of Siena, the European University Institute (Florence) and the London School of Economics.

Reviews

[Corbin Routier · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author unfortunately uses a poorly literary device: he names drops or cites a work, then moves on. This is either pretentious or careless. The hundreds of names and works cited would take a literal lifetime to read.

A positive is that the author presents Durkheim's work in a very presentable fashion. A negative, is that many if the passages are only quotes and does not do much to inform about Durkheim or his life. If you are looking for succinct summaries of works you have already read, you will find it here. Insight into Durkheim and his experiences are minimal, although it should probably be attributed to the Germans destroying so much academic material during the WW1 occupation.

[Jessica Zu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful in understanding Durkheim

[Lynn Davidman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helpful secondary source for reading Durkheim