Abstract
Durkheim's vision of sociology went beyond the scientific to the moral and political, incorporating a distinctive diagnosis of modern society's ills. His several sociological classics remain central through successive critiques and reinterpretations. His major contributions to methodology, to the analysis of types of solidarity and suicide, and his sociology of religion and knowledge are reviewed; also his continuing influence and current significance are assessed. He has profoundly shaped social scientists' understanding of industrialization, urbanization, social control, social disorganization (with the concept of 'anomie'), collective behavior, the ritual and symbolic aspects of punishment, his thoroughly social account of religion, and of the social shaping of cognition and classification.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences: Second Edition |
| Publisher | Elsevier Inc. |
| Pages | 699-704 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9780080970875 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9780080970868 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 26 2015 |
Keywords
- Anomie
- Classification
- Collective representations
- Conscience collective
- Crime and punishment
- Division of labor
- Mechanical and organic
- Methodological individualism
- Moral facts
- Ritual
- Sacred and profane
- Social facts
- Social realism
- Solidarity
- Suicide
- Totemism
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Social Sciences