Émile Durkheim

Émile Durkheim

1. The study of social action

   • Utilitarianism and Durkheim's critique
   • The social significance of expressive action
   • The symbolic character of action

2. The reality of society

   • The moral character of society
   • The domain of sociology
     • Social facts
     • The emergent nature of social facts
   • The study of social facts

3. The unity of society

   • Mechanical and organic solidarity
   • The individual and society
     • The institution of contract

4. Autonomy and constraint

   • The study of suicide
     • Suicide and social solidarity
     • The internalisation of the moral order

5. The solidarity of society

   • The study of religion
     • Rites
     • Religion in the modern world

6. Thought and society

7. The diagnosis of society

   • The anomic form of the division of labour
   • The forced division of labour
   • Lack of co-ordination
   • Beyond socialism

8. The aftermath

   • Positivism
   • Structuralism, functionalism, reification, and conservatism
   • Some contributions: Goffman, labelling theory and the structure of human thought