Emile Durkheim

Biography

Emile Durkheim was born on April 15, 1858 at Epinal, Vosges, in Lorraine, France, the son of
Moïse Durkheim, the Chief Rabbi of the Vosges and Haute-Marne, and his wife Mélanie, a
merchant's daughter. Since Emile's father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had all been
rabbis, it was expected that young Emile would follow suit, so he was sent to a a rabbinical
school. However, things did not turn out as planned when Emile moved to Paris.
When he was in his early teens, Durkheim took an interest in Catholicism, but he also abandoned
that religion as well, realizing that he preferred to study religion from an agnostic standpoint as
opposed to being indoctrinated. This in no way meant that he was rejecting his heritage, as he
remained close to his family and the Jewish community. Durkheim was a brilliant student, and
was awarded several prizes and honors. His high intellect and academic excellence earned him
early advancement, and baccalaureates in Letters 1874, and Sciences in 1875, at the Collège
d’Epinal, as well as high distinction in the Concours Général. which had made it easy for him to
be accepted at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris.
But Durkheim's real academic ambition was not the Lycée, but rather the prestigious Ecole
Normale Supérieure, which he worked tenaciously to gain acceptance therein. Durkheim's father
had become ill, and he was staying in a pension, which made him quite depressed. Furthermore,
Durkheim's scientific way thinking did not make it easy for him to do well in the studies he
required to gain admittance into the Ecole Normale Supérieure. It wasn't until 1879, at the age
of 21, on the third try that he finally attained his goal, joining the ranks of other great intellectual
and political leaders such as socialist Jean Jaurès, psychologist Pierre Janet, philosophers Henri
Bergson, Felix Rauh and Maurice Blondel, all of whom had been, or were soon to be studying at
the the famed institution.
Durkheim and this group of young thinkers were involved in political and philosophical
discussions, most of which focused on the Republican cause, of which Durkheim, along with his
friend Jaurès were strong proponents. Durkheim had great admiration for Léon Gambetta, one of
the founders of the French Third Republic, and Jules Ferry, who introduced the anti-clerical
reform that made primary education obligatory, free, and non-clerical, but his own interest in
education centered more upon teaching methods, which had long been literary, and which he felt
needed to be scientific, and it was this issue which fueled his orations. It was then, that
Durkheim found allies in philosophers Emile Boutroux, Charles Renouvier, and historian
Numas-Denis Fustel de Coulanges.

Though he became ill in 1881, Durkheim passed the difficult examination required for admission
to the teaching staff of state secondary schools, and was soon thereafter teaching philosophy. 5
years later, in 1887, Durkheim married Louise Dreyfus, with whom he had a son, André, and
later a daughter, Marie. It was also that same year that Durkheim was appointed "Chargé des
Cours de Pédagogie et de Sciences Sociales" at Bordeaux, by departing teacher Alfred Espinas
and Louis Liard, a devoted republican who was then Director of Higher Education in France.
The "Sciences Sociales" part of the appointment had been tailored to fit Durkheim's new ideas,
and thus, sociology became part of the French academic curriculum.
Although he stressed the importance of socialism in philosophy, law, and history, Emile
Durkheim faced opposition from the humanist Faculty of Letters members, who were somewhat
afraid that his distinct explanations of legal and moral institutions through reference to purely
social causes threatened volition and individual moral duty. Nonetheless, Durkheim did manage
to make friends and allies of some of his colleagues, particularily with philosophers Octave
Hamelin, and Georges Rodier, who both helped promote Durkheim's rationalist ideas in
opposition to the intuitionism, and mysticism, which were now losing their appeal.
While he was at Bordeaux, Emile Durkheim lectured on the history and practice of education, in
this excerpt from his 1888 "Course in Sociology: Opening Lecture", he states "...by becoming
more specialized, science comes closer to things which are themselves specialized. It thus
becomes more objective, more impersonal, and, consequently, accessible to the full range of
individual talents and to all workers of good will.". His social science courses and public
lectures focused of the study of law, religion, and socialism, and the more specific issues crime,
incest, kinship, totemism, and suicide.
In 1893, Durkheim published his first major work, "De la division du travail social" (The
Division of Labor in Society), in which he introduced the concept of "anomie", which described
the breakdown of the influence of social norms on individuals within a society, meaning that
people were no longer expected to abide by a set of sociological rules, and no longer knew what
to expect from one another. In 1894, he was permanently appointed associate professor at
Bordeaux. In 1895, he published "Les Règles de la méthode sociologique" (The Rules of
Sociological Method), his second most important work. In 1897, he published his third major
work, "Le Suicide: étude de sociologie" (Suicide : A Study in Sociology).
Two years later, he established an important journalistic collaboration program, which leads to
the foundation of the "L'Année Sociologique, France's first Social Science Journal. Prior to this
breakthrough, the only publication to have a Sociology section was "La Revue philosophique",
which had featured some of Durkheim's writings. In 1902, the chair of "Science of Education",
occupied by Ferdinand Buisson, a man instrumental in the implementation of Jules Ferry's
educational reforms, became available due to his appointment to the Chamber of Deputies.
Durkheim was soon thereafter appointed "Chargé de Cours" at the Sorbonne, and four years
later, was made Professeur, later taking over Buisson's chair, which was subsequently named the
chair of "Science of Education and Sociology".
In 1912, Durkheim published his fourth major work, "Les Formes élémentaires de la vie
religieuse" (The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life), by then, his scientific approach to
every social phenomenon, had not only managed to draw the ire of the Catholic Church, some
philosophers, and the Right Wing, but he had also gained quite a fair bit of power in the world of
academia; his lecture courses were required curriculum for all philosophy, literature, and history
students. Durkheim also educated the next generation of teachers who were also glad to follow
in his footsteps.
Although he stressed the importance of socialism in philosophy, law, and history, Emile
Durkheim faced opposition from the humanist Faculty of Letters members, who were somewhat
afraid that his distinct explanations of legal and moral institutions through reference to purely
social causes threatened volition and individual moral duty. Nonetheless, Durkheim did manage
to make friends and allies of some of his colleagues, particularily with philosophers Octave
Hamelin, and Georges Rodier, who both helped promote Durkheim's rationalist ideas in
opposition to the intuitionism, and mysticism, which were now losing their appeal.
While he was at Bordeaux, Emile Durkheim lectured on the history and practice of education, in
this excerpt from his 1888 "Course in Sociology: Opening Lecture", he states "...by becoming
more specialized, science comes closer to things which are themselves specialized. It thus
becomes more objective, more impersonal, and, consequently, accessible to the full range of
individual talents and to all workers of good will.". His social science courses and public
lectures focused of the study of law, religion, and socialism, and the more specific issues crime,
incest, kinship, totemism, and suicide.
In 1893, Durkheim published his first major work, "De la division du travail social" (The
Division of Labor in Society), in which he introduced the concept of "anomie", which described
the breakdown of the influence of social norms on individuals within a society, meaning that
people were no longer expected to abide by a set of sociological rules, and no longer knew what
to expect from one another. In 1894, he was permanently appointed associate professor at
Bordeaux. In 1895, he published "Les Règles de la méthode sociologique" (The Rules of
Sociological Method), his second most important work. In 1897, he published his third major
work, "Le Suicide: étude de sociologie" (Suicide : A Study in Sociology).
Two years later, he established an important journalistic collaboration program, which leads to
the foundation of the "L'Année Sociologique, France's first Social Science Journal. Prior to this
breakthrough, the only publication to have a Sociology section was "La Revue philosophique",
which had featured some of Durkheim's writings. In 1902, the chair of "Science of Education",
occupied by Ferdinand Buisson, a man instrumental in the implementation of Jules Ferry's
educational reforms, became available due to his appointment to the Chamber of Deputies.
Durkheim was soon thereafter appointed "Chargé de Cours" at the Sorbonne, and four years
later, was made Professeur, later taking over Buisson's chair, which was subsequently named the
chair of "Science of Education and Sociology".
In 1912, Durkheim published his fourth major work, "Les Formes élémentaires de la vie
religieuse" (The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life), by then, his scientific approach to
every social phenomenon, had not only managed to draw the ire of the Catholic Church, some
philosophers, and the Right Wing, but he had also gained quite a fair bit of power in the world of
academia; his lecture courses were required curriculum for all philosophy, literature, and history
students. Durkheim also educated the next generation of teachers who were also glad to follow
in his footsteps.
In 1914, Germany invaded Belgium and the north of France, which was followed by the attack of
east Prussia by the Russians, which caused General Coblenz von Motke to relocate some of his
troops to the eastern front. The combined efforts of the French and British armies successfully
repelled the German forces, changing the entire course of the war, as it was the first time the
Germans had been forced to retreat. This development pleased Durkheim, who even if he wasn't
a nationalist, showed his patriotism by preparing a series of documents, including patriotic
leaflets which served to instill national pride, and others devised to counter German propaganda
in neutral countries.
Durkheim himself was discriminated against as a Jew with a German name, but he nonetheless
managed to remain patriotic, despite his failing health, and the loss of his son André who had
been fighting on the Bulgarian front in 1916. André was a brilliant young sociolinguist, and he
had recently been recruited to teach at the Lycée. Durkheim was so upset by the loss of his son
that he demanded that no one speak his son's name in his presence. The tragedy also motivated
Durkheim to become more involved in the war, up until he suffered a stroke during one of his
impassioned speeches. On November 15th 1917, after spending several months convalescing,
Emile Durkheim died, at the age of 59.

The Division of Labor in Society (French: De La Division Du Travail Social) is a book written
by Émile Durkheim in 1893. It was influential in advancing sociological theories and thought,
with ideas which in turn were influenced by Auguste Comte. Durkheim described how social
order was maintained in societies, and the transition from more "primitive" societies to advanced
industrial societies.
Durkheim suggested that in a "primitive" society, mechanical solidarity with people acting and
thinking alike with a collective or common conscience allows social order to be maintained. In
such a society, Durkheim viewed crime as an act that "offends strong and defined states of the
collective conscience."
In an advanced, industrial, capitalist society, the complex division of labor means that people are
allocated in society according to merit and rewarded accordingly. Durkheim argued that moral
regulation was needed, as well as economic regulation, to maintain order (or organic solidarity)
in society with people able to "compose their differences peaceably"
He thought that transition of a society from "primitive" to advanced may bring about major
disorder, crisis, and anomie.