Mudabicara.com_ For lovers of sociology, Emile Durkheim is one of the figures whose ideas need to be studied. As a philosopher and sociologist, Emile Durkheim’s contribution is no less great than that of earlier thinkers such as Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer and his contemporary sociologist Max Weber.
Emile Durkheim’s work entitled L’Année Sociologique contains his research on the science of sociology. Like Max Weber, Emile Durkheim is also known as the Father of Modern Sociology.
At the level of theory Emile Durkheim gave a significant influence in the development of sociology. Some of his theories are about social facts and social order. Durkheim tried to combine empirical approaches and sociological theory in his studies.
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Now! This time, young talk wants to review more deeply about Emile Durkhem’s theory of social facts and their influence on the development of sociological science and the world of intellectualism in general. For more, see the following mudabicara reviews :
Getting to Know Emile Durkheim at a Glance
David Emile Durkheim was born in a town called Epinal just northeast of France on April 15, 1858. He was born to a father named Moise Durkheim and mother Melanie Isidor Durkheim. Emile Durkheim’s parents were devout Jews.
In his scientific development, Durkheim was influenced by previous positivist thinkers such as Herbert Spencer and Auguste Comte. The results of reading the thoughts of the two figures brought Emile Durkheim interested in the scientific approach method.
As a future great thinker Emile Durkheim has shown his talent since childhood. He is a smart and intelligent child. This was proven when he was accepted at one of the renowned schools Ecole Normale de Superieure.
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The school which is said to have given birth to many great thinkers in France. It was at the Ecole Normale de Superieure school that Emile Durkheim met other scientists such as Jean Jaures, Henry Bergson and Pierre Janet.
Emile Durkheim’s interest in social science is not only his reading of the work of positivism, but also because Durkhem sees that there is no scientific approach in the social sciences, especially sociology.
At that time the French education system had not yet found a formula related to the social science curriculum. Many students are more interested in studying philosophy, biology and psychology.
In addition, Durkheim’s enthusiasm for pursuing social science was due to his desire to bring sociology out of the shadows of philosophy and put it into a science that could stand alone.
Beberapa karya Emile Durkheim yang terkenal adalah On the Division of Social Labor, The Rules of Sociological Method, Suicide, and The Elementary Forms of Religious Life.
However, apart from the above writings there are many more writings and analyzes of Durkheim which were published after his death. Emile Durkheim breathed his last in 1917 after suffering from a paralysis.
Getting to Know Emile Durkheim’s Theory of Social Facts
The theory of social facts is one of Emile Durkheim’s most significant contributions to the development of sociology. For Durkheim social facts are things outside the individual such as institutions, status, roles, laws, beliefs, norms and values that exist outside the individual that can limit the individual.
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The concept of social fact theory is designed to discuss the social environment that limits individual behavior. With the theory of social facts, Durkheim tried to separate sociology from psychology and philosophy.
According to him, the theory of social facts is a person’s way of doing social actions through a thought process based on a coercive attitude in social life.
Furthermore, Sociology must become an independent science by making social facts as the subject matter through empirical research and research.
Sociology is no longer discussing ideas as a subject like the previous thinkers, but sociology must be a science based on empirical activities. Sociology should not be like philosophy based on mental activity.
One of Emile Durkheim’s works that focus on sociology with an empirical approach is entitled The Rule of Sociological Method (1985) and Le Suicide (1987).
George Ritzer explains Durkheim’s work The Rule Of Sociological Method is a basic description of empirical research methods in sociology.
While his work entitled Le Suicide is the result of his research related to the influence of religion and symptoms of suicide by using empirical methods.
Reading Social Facts Through the Phenomenon of Suicide
Emile Durkheim conducted research on the phenomenon of suicide. The results of his research stated that suicide is a social fact that is influenced by social phenomena. The social phenomena in question are divorce, economic problems, religion, social disintegration and social regulation.
The research then becomes an illustration related to the theory of social facts. Where he researched statistics on suicide in various European countries.
In the suicide statistics, he claims that these statistics are social facts even though there are actually many irregularities because they are prone to manipulation.
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For example, research notes that a man’s suicide rate is 3 times higher than a woman’s and that men have the highest suicide rate in their 40s. The results showed that the biggest cause of suicide was due to socio-economic factors.
But what about death due to accident or accident, is it also included in the phenomenon of suicide? Therefore, social facts about suicide do not have absolute truth validity.
Durkheim argues that suicide rates increase when there is too much or too little disintegration and regulation in society.
Social Fact View
The initial basis for social facts is the collective of individuals, similar to sociology, which identifies the relationship between social conditions and people’s behavior. Social reality is a real social fact and cannot be reduced to the individual level.
Just as human life is greater than the sum of the individual cells that compose it, society has a higher reality than the individuals who make it up.
Durkheim makes an analogy with a building, how the physical structure of a room limits our actions. For example, someone will be able to enter the building of a house only through two doors or windows.
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In the same way social facts shape our social environment and directly limit us. For example, the existence of norms, values, beliefs, ideologies, and so on effectively limits our choices of social action.
Finally, the main point of Emile Durkheim’s thinking is that one should not reduce the study of society to the individual level, they must remain at the level of social facts in order to explain social action on the basis of social facts.
Types of Social Facts
1. Material Social Facts
Material social facts are more focused on the study of legal and bureaucratic issues. Of course, these social facts can be analyzed and empirical in nature so that people can conduct research with material social facts.
2. Non-Material Social Facts
Non-material social facts are culture and social institutions. Non material here means that the social facts are abstract, such as one’s opinion, egoism and altruism.
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Emile Durkheim’s Theory Criticism
Durkheim’s view of society and the positivist method was understood more than 100 years ago. This theory has also been heavily criticized by Interpretivists and Postmodernists.
However, this does not stop many researchers from adopting quantitative and scientific approaches in analyzing social trends and social problems at the community level, especially at the individual level. There seems to be a view that society limits us in subtle and often unconscious ways.
In contrast to Max Weber’s theory of social action, Emile Durkheim’s theory of social facts does negate the role of the individual as a social actor so that it has received criticism from various parties. Whereas Max Weber explained that social action is a social activity that is full of individual motives.
Other critics, such as phenomenologists, argue that the whole concept of external reality in the theory of social facts is itself flawed, and instead of an external reality that limits the individual. There are many more fluid and diverse social realities that emerge and fade with social interaction.
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From this perspective, we may think that there is a system of social norms and values in the world, but this will only be real to us if we consider it real. Of course this is nothing more than a thought and thus in reality we are truly free as individuals.
Despite the criticism of Emile Durkheim, he remains a sociologist who is credited with bringing sociology as an independent social science. In addition, Emile Durkheim was listed as the first Professor of social science in France.
The analysis of empirical research methods on social facts is able to place sociology as a science that can compete with other established sciences.
By: Azizah ()