Sociology is the study of the structure of groups, organizations, and societies, and how individuals interact within these environments. Sociology at one time was not a respectable or well-known field of study until Emile Durkheim, a college professor, made sociology a part of the French college curriculum. Durkheim is regarded as one of the founders of sociology. He introduced sociology as a branch of learning separate from other sciences by declaring that sociologists must examine specific characteristics of group life. In this paper, I plan to provide some insight into who Emile Durkheim was and his contributions to the field of sociology.
Emile Durkheim was born on April 13, 1958, in the eastern city of Epinal, in the section of the Vosges. He was born into a Jewish family of very humble means, and it was assumed that he would become a rabbi, like his father. As early as his late teens Durkheim became convinced that struggle and even sadness are more favorable to the spiritual development of a human being than happiness or bliss. He developed into a seriously disciplined young man. He attended College d’ Epinal and was awarded several honors and recognitions. After that he transferred to a French high school, The Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris. While going there he primed himself for the examination that would later open doors to the influential Ecole Normale Superieure, a postgraduate traditional training establishment for the cream of the crop of Paris (Wolff, 1960).
Durkheim was enrolled in Ecole Normale Superieure in 1879. He discovered independence, financial security, and the inspiring companionship of exceptional, enthusiastic young scholars. He loved the talk of ideas, and his genuineness earned him admiration, but h...
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...ere was a high percentage of anomic suicide among those who are rich in addition to divorced people. An abrupt transformation in the routine of living or the collapse of a marriage throws life off balance and places traditions in an instability. Similar to economic anomie, domestic anomie caused by the passing away of a spouse is also the effect of a damage that causes disruption to the stability of life.
Fatalistic suicide is the total opposite of altruistic suicide. Fatalistic suicide takes place when there is excessive regulation. Durkheim takes into account, the likelihood that "persons with futures pitilessly blocked and passions violently choked by oppressive discipline" may not see any way out. The person sees no potential way in which their lives can be better, and when in a condition of depression, may have a propensity for committing fatalistic suicide.
Michael Moscherosch was born on November 23rd, 1962, in Stuttgart Germany. He and his younger brother were born into a working class family, with his mother working as a full-time accountant and his father working as a car mechanic. The Moscherosch family stayed in Stuttgart for since its inception, the families ancestral roots stem as far back as the 1600s and stayed within Stuttgart and the villages surrounding the area. Michael as a child was described to be scholastic and performed well in his school. In Germany, instead of there being an elementary, middle, and high school, there is a primary school and then secondary schools prioritizing certain fields; some of these fields include engineering, trade schools, and “gymnasiums” which closely represent the structure of our American high schools. Upon completing his secondary school education, Michael began studying Chemistry at the University of Stuttgart, working at night during the week to fund his education.
In Durkheim’s concept of social/moral regulation, society imposes limits on humans to regulate their passions, desires, expectations, ambitions and roles. When these limits or social regulations break down, the controlling authority the society once had no longer functions and people are left on their own to make their own plans. In societies that have low levels of social regulations, a state of Anomie, or normlessness, can occur and affect the whole society or just some of its groups. Anomic suicide was more prevalent in this type of society. Anomic suicide basically involve...
Pickering, W. S. F. 1990. “The Eternality of the Sacred: Durkheim's Error?” Archives de Sciences
Emile Durkheim is largely credited as the man who made Sociology a science. As a boy, he was enraptured by the scientific approach to society, but at that time, there was no social science curriculum. Vowing to change this, Durkheim worked scrupulously to earn his “degree in philosophy in 1882”. (Johnson 34) Unable to change the French school system right away, Emile traveled to Germany to further his education. It was there that he published his initial findings and gained the knowledge necessary to influence the French education system. Emile Durkheim is a distinguished and well versed man who, through his work, established a platform for other sociologist to build on.
Durkheim identified four causes of suicide: egoism, altruism, anomie and fatalism. Key to all of these was the focus on integration and regulation. Egoistic suicides occurred with low integration, altruistic with excessive; anomic suicides with low regulation, and fatalistic with excessive. He distinguishes between the ‘pre-modern’ suicides – altruism and fatalism, and the ‘modern’ suicides – egoism and anomie. The transition, he claims, from pre- to modern society has led to individualism, through greater social and economic mobility, and urbanisation. This personal autonomy has led to lesser...
At the time of his death on the fifteenth of April, 1980, at the age of seventy-four, Jean-Paul Sartre’s greatest literary and philosophical works were twenty-five years in the past. Although the small man existed in the popular mind as the politically inconsistent champion of unpopular causes and had spent the last seven years of his life in relative stagnation, his influence was still great enough to draw a crowd of over fifty thousand people – admirers or otherwise – for his funeral procession. Sartre was eminently quotable, a favorite in the press, because his statements were always controversial. He was the leader of the shortly popular Existential movement in philosophy which turned quickly into a fad for the disillusioned post-World War I generation, so even when the ideas criticized were not the ideas of Sartre’s Existentialism, he still came to the public mind. Sartre was alternately celebrated and vilified, depending on which side of the issue the speaker or writer was on, and whether or not Sartre had early espoused – and possibly later turned against – the ideals in question. Despite Sartre’s many political and philosophical about-faces, fellow Marxist political philosopher Herbert Marcuse said of him, “He may not want to be the world’s conscience, but he is.” [Hayman, 458]
A Study of Suicide: An overview of the famous work by Emile Durkheim, Ashley Crossman, 2009, http://sociology.about.com/od/Works/a/Suicide.htm, 25/12/2013
Emile Durkheim and Max Weber both appealed to me in the reading of chapter 1. They both have similarities and differences on their approaches to sociology. While reading the background of Emile, I found it fascinating how he studied sociology in a way that he put together the individual dimensions and added them together to better understand a society or social group. The case of suicide rates and religion. This one case can be analyzed through other elements, such as careers. For instance, the type of profession can be studied. I am really into statistics and like to break down information. The way he broke down the information to analyze a society or social groups interested me. Max Weber, I chose to write about because I felt he had a refined understanding of his teacher, Karl Marx.
Gunkel’s resources came in the form of a Lutheran rearing, a formal education and communication with some of the big wigs of scholarship. Gunkel received his educational background from the University of Halle, where he later became a professor. He then moved on to professorships in Berlin and Giessen. But, throughout the year Gunkel re...
During the conflict surrounding the Dreyfus Affair, Durkheim used the new field of sociology to try to make sense of society and the world around him. The Dreyfus Affair was a government cover up framing a Jewish captain named Dreyfus. It turned into a political scandal splitting the people of France. As Collins & Makowsky (2010) stated, doing this allowed him to discover that “society is a ritual order, a collective conscience founded on the emotional rhythms of human interaction” (p. 92). The students at the University of Paris were not exempt from conflict and the professors gave lectures for the Dreyfusard cause. He was one of the most renowned of the professors at the University of Paris at the time. He went to Wilhelm Wundt’s laboratory to investigate the social sciences though he accepted Comte’s sociology over psychology. He wanted to take sociology and do what Wundt had done with psychology. Durkheim wanted sociology to be a researchable science instead of a philosophy. He became a professor at the Ecole Normale and then became the first chair of the science of Sociology in the early 1900’s. Durkheim published several works on different topics in sociology including suicide, religion, and the ...
Emile Durkheim was born in 1858 in the region of France known as the Alsace-Lorraine. His father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had all been rabbis, however Durkheim quickly decided against following into the rabbinate early in his youth (Jones 1986). Durkheim excelled in science as a student, however his weakness in studying Latin and rhetoric caused him to fail the entrance exams to Ecole twice before he passed (Jones 1986). Durkheim trained to be a teacher at Ecole, as well as participated in lively debates, in which he advocated for the republican cause (Jones 1986). It was also at this time that Durkheim first read Comte and Spencer (Calhoun 2002). It was partially through these sources that Durkheim came to view social science and culture as an organic whole. Durkheim then went to
The consequences of suicide can be wide-rove. For a premises of a family who is a oppress and who is suffering, perhaps the intentions are all commendable and the act would grow the general happiness, just as might the suicide of an isolated, terræ filius miserable person.
At age 16, Dirichlet had finished his school credentials and was able to attend a university. However, the German universities were not up to par, thus allowing Dirichlet to explore other forms of education in Paris. While the German Universities were lacking at the time, in only a few more years they would be world renown for their ...
Theories of suicide have contributed to understand the stress of social issues than on biological factors like psychological for the cause of suicide. He found suicide is the results of social disorganization and the lack of social integration. Durkheim found and theories different types of suicide. Anomic suicide, enforces society standards that causes a person to feel lost or alone. With a lack of social directions and restrains social ethics contributes to the isolations felt. Egoistic suicide is the consequences of social bonds and linked to anomic disappointment. Egoistic suicide, a person feels detached from society by roles, family dynamics and relationships. Egoistic see no goal to accomplish therefore, feels useless and without purpose. The isolation felt because a person does not belong to a group for support and therefore, commit suicide. Egoistic and altruistic suicide, is the consequences of integration within the society Altruist, commits beyond the World and the obstacles and burden. Fatalistic suicide block and passion oppressive and makes, a person feel like an indentured servant. The customs and traditions of society is instrumental in death and the mode of suicidal act. Each theories work to clarify the social context when the problems occurred.
“I think, therefore I am” is well-known quote by René Descartes. He was considered a “Renaissance Man”, which meant that he was capable of obtaining a wide range of skills in many different fields. René Descartes was born in a town La Haye, a city south of France, on March 31st , 1596. He lived on until February 11th,1650. He is the son of Joachim Descartes, who was a councilor in Parliament. Descartes was a French mathematician, philosopher, and is frequently discussed as the inventor of the modern-day scientific method. He contributed to modern ideas such as related to science and rational thought. Descartes came from a wealthy family, and therefore had no financial worries. Descartes' father sent him to College Henri IV at La Feche at the age of only 8 (Finkel). The college was a newly established Jesuit school, which was known to be one of the best in Europe in terms of academic quality during that time. During 1614, Descartes left La Fleche in 1614 to study anon and civil law at Poitiers where he received his degrees in law two years later.(Finkel) However, he never practiced law. Nonetheless, in his prime, Descartes wanted to accomplish something in life that is based on the stable basis of all knowledge. Descartes many contributions helped the world significantly.