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Lecture 21. Classical Social Theory and Law- Durkheim
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Lecture 21 - Classical Social Theory and Law: DurkheimBiographical details
- Durkheim is considered to be one of the founders of sociology.
- Lived between 1885 and 1917
- Born in France and spent most of his life there.
- Born into a Jewish family with a long line of Rabbis. Began his education in a rabbinical school but
changed to a secular school at an early point.
- Studied philosophy, psychology, ethics and sociology in Paris (at École Normale Supérieure).
- Completed his doctorate in 1886, which became The Division of Labour in Society.
- During the Dreyfus Affair he publicly defended Dreyfus.
- Was supportive of campaigns for the recognition of human rights; actively contributed to the
establishment of the League for the Rights of Man and the Citizen.
- 1902: became Professor of Education at the Sorbonne. 1913: Professor of Education and Sociology at
the Sorbonne.
- 1915: his son died in WWI. Devastated by this, he died two years later aged 59.
Key publications
- The Division of Labour in Society, 1893
- The Rules of Sociological Method, 1895
- Suicide, 1897
- The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, 1912
- Reviews and articles in L’Année Sociologique (1898-1917)
General comments on Durkheim’s approach to the study of society
- Focus on social facts - Defined as: ‘Ways of acting, thinking, and feeling, external to the individual,
and endowed with a power of coercion, by reason of which they control him’.
- Two main elements in above definition: (i) externality to the individual (this distinguishes sociology
from psychology); (ii) focus on coerciveness (seen as necessary to make the inquiry scientific).
- Social facts include:
(i) material circumstances and conditions - e.g. the economic conditions in a society,
demographic facts in a society)
(ii) ‘ideal representations – e.g. language, law, practices followed in a religion all reflect
upon a society
- Marx only focuses upon material circumstances and condition. Durkheim looks at both.
- Durkheim views society as a moral order and moral phenomenon. Society is ‘nothing more than the
moral milieu that surrounds the individual’. (morality is essential to social cohesion)
- Has particular interest in social integration (or, social cohesion, social solidarity).
- The primary role of law in his inquiry: a methodological device, serving as an externally observable
indicator or index of solidarity. Law is the ‘visible symbol’ of solidarity, and we can be ‘certain of
finding reflected in law all the essential varieties of social solidarity’.
Early Durkheim’s theory on social solidarity, its legal manifestations, and its evolution
- Preliminary comments on Durkheim’s presupposed understanding of law:
He treats sanction as an essential element of law: ‘Every precept of law can be defined as a
rule of sanctioned conduct’.
Sees law as a specific part of the more general social phenomenon, morality. Unlike the rest
of morality, law is characterised by organised sanctions.
- Identifies two types of law:
Repressive laws
Characteristics:
o Sanction consists in suffering or loss inflicted on violator. Focus on
punishment of a wrongdoer.
o Prohibition reflects the collective conscience – strong shared values or
sentiments of society. Violator assaulted the collective conscience society
avenges that by harming the violator.
o This type of law need not necessarily rely on specialised personnel for its
adjudication and enforcement
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