Social Facts in Emily Durkheims Works - Term Paper Example

Emile Durkheim: The Social Facts This paper investigates into one of the most significant contributions to sociological science made by one of the most famous sociologists of the world – Emile Durkheim. The social facts, according to Durkheim, make the subject matter of sociology and separate it into an independent science. We will investigate into the concept of the social fact, give their example, determine what not a social fact is, and analyze views of modern sociologists on Durkheim’s works by means of analysis of an article Relationship Transitions Among Older Cohabitors: The Role of Health, Wealth, and Family Ties by Jonathan Vespa. Emile Durkheim: The Social Facts Introduction Emile Durkheim is considered to be not only the most famous and significant sociologists of the XIX-XX centuries, but also the founder of sociology as an independent science. He reckoned that his main objective was to prove that sociology was not just a branch of psychology or philosophy. He was successful at this, as he formulated idea of social facts – the subject matter of a newly emerged science about the society. It is necessary to investigate into the essence of social fact and to understand how the rules of Durkheim’s works influence modern development of sociology. The Social Fact By Emile Durkheim In his work The Rules of Sociological Method, Emile Durkheim gives such definition of a social fact: “A social fact is any way of acting, whether fixed or not, capable of exerting over the individual an external constraint; or: which is general over the whole of a given society whilst having an existence of its own, independent of its individual manifestations.” (Durkheim, 1895 [1982], p. 59). Durkheim insisted that sociology studies social facts that are different from something generally understood under this name, and these social facts belong only to characteristics of society and make sociology an independent science, as, studying these social facts, it has its own subject matter and research basis. According to Durkheim’s ideas, these facts called social are not invented by a single person, but are developed in the society during the previous periods and continuing in the future ones. The social facts can also exist outside of the person. These ones impose themselves upon an individual, and trying to resist those means punishment or something similar to pay the penalty for damages. These are also the facts that are implied, but not necessary to be fulfilled, however, violation of them would fail, and the violator could be ruined himself. The social facts constitute a category of facts that control an individual because they are external to him and consist of manners of feeling, thinking, and acting. They are in the conscience of the individuals and, consequently, in the conscience of the society. There is a suggestion that the social facts exist in well-organized societies, but they are also present in the so called “social currents”: for example, enthusiasm, pity and other emotions produced by public gatherings also impose themselves upon the individuals, even in spite of the persons themselves. An individual may be not conscious about this imposing, but this is felt once an individual tries to resist them, and the results of such resistance turn against the revolting individual. The social facts, such as religious, political, emotional, can also be generated within a gathering of people who are usually harmless. Some social facts cannot arrive to the person spontaneously: Emile Durkheim gives an example of an education of a child, when a child is imposed upon to acquire the ways of thinking, seeing, and acting. Later on, a child is obliged to perform usual acts at definite time and to observe certain demands, then – how to behave, to respect customs and traditions. The social facts are constituted by tendencies, beliefs and practices of one group which is taken collectively. The states of collective mind can also form social facts and impel the persons to be imposed by them. The statistics that provide numbers of social facts, such as suicides, marriages, births, informs us about them, but these facts do not disappear after they are known, they exist within the society. The social facts also exist independently of an individual’s world perception, and the collective mind means the social facts when they are deprived of all their external features. There is an objection that some phenomenon is collective only when it is a common one, that is, common to all the members of a society or, at least, to its majority. The condition which makes this social fact is that this phenomenon imposes itself upon the members of the society. It is also necessary to mention that many social facts are transferred to the members of the society by means of acceptance and adoption as they are collective work and are developed by the previous generations. A characteristic feature of social facts if that they are imposed on individuals, members of the society, without any prior sanction or permission for such imposing. Some modes of behavior existing outside of the individuals’ consciousness may become general, but this is possible only provided that the pressure is exerted upon those individuals. There is also an opinion of Durkheim that the social facts can also be referred to as collective ways of being, or, social facts with morphological, or ‘anatomical’, nature. (Durkheim, 1895 [1982], p. 57). The ways of being also impose upon the individuals – members of the society – the same way that the above mentioned ways of acting do. For better understanding what a social fact is it is necessary to give examples. Good ones are performing duties as a husband, a brother, a citizen, fulfillment of the commitments entered into, fulfillment of the obligations that are external to any person. This list is completed with such phenomena as performing actions usual for a country or a society which are not obligatory, but are impossible to do without. The same is with the imposture of an individual to respect customs and traditions, to act according to the laws of the local culture and society. Suicides, births, marriages and divorces are also referred to as the social facts. Such a broad description and definition may cause some confusion of the facts which Durkheim was struggling against. That is why it is logical to consider what does not cause social facts. According to Durkheim, physiological activity of any person, though this person is part of a society, does not cause social facts, it causes physiological ones, as if it was otherwise, the sociology would be considered the same as biological or physiological sciences. The things that are not imposed onto a person are considered to create no social facts as well, as they have no power or sanction or permission to do so, as well as the things that exist internally in a person and make this person act or behave, as these are matters of individuality of each separately taken individual. Modern Views on Emile Durkheim’s Ideas As it was already mentioned above, Emile Durkheim’s ideas were and still remain the constituent ones for sociology, and it is obvious that every successor of Durkheim has experienced influence of his works and studies. Let us investigate into this fact on the example of an article Relationship Transitions Among Older Cohabitors: The Role of Health, Wealth, and Family Ties by a modern independent researcher and sociology scientist Jonathan Vespa. To achieve this goal, it would be very useful to define the rules of Durkheim according to which the society shall be investigated into and to trace whether these rights are observed in a research paper of John Vespa about such part of society as older cohabitation people. Emile Durkheim distinguished the main rules for society studying: sociological facts shall be considered as things – “The proposition which states that social facts must be treated as things – the proposition which is at the very basis of our method – is among those which have stirred up the most opposition” (Durkheim, 1895 [1982], p. 35); recognition of peculiarity and autonomy of social reality; priority of social reality over individual one, a constituent role of social reality in determining of consciousness and behavior of an individual. (Durkheim, 1895 [1982], p. 38-39). The article of John Vespa treats the subject matter of the research – marriage and cohabitation – as things because of the fact that there are precise numbers and per cent rates of both phenomena given in the research, and because they are not investigated into as some abstract concepts. The article gives clear understanding of what marriage and cohabitation are, what features, differences or similarities they have, within which categories of society they can be constructed. “It is easy to picture cohabitation as a young person’s experiment, but there is a growing place for cohabitation in later life”. (Vespa, 2013, p. 933). This way the article demonstrates that the concept “cohabitation” can be applied to other category of society than it is initially associated with, but it is easy to clarify which phenomenon is suggested in the sentence. This article also demonstrates that the phenomena of older age marriage and cohabitation are not influenced by any external events: the tendency of individual to consolidate together with each other in unconditional and independent on anything as it is natural, and the article shows that older people seek for the ways to avoid their loneliness and to find assistance and support. According to Durkheim, consolidation of individuals contributes to progress of society, and Vespa’s work suggests that older cohabitation or marriage enforce the traditional structure and organization of the society and gives an example for other individuals which may involve more participants of such consolidation. (Vespa, 2013, p. 934). This proves Durkheim’s rule that the social reality is autonomous and peculiar. John Vespa’s article proves the third above mentioned rule. Social reality makes people act in accordance with itself, as every individual makes part of society and lives according to its rules. It is very seldom that individualistic approach to life benefits and helps people live usual life, and Vespa explains why people, even older and similarly having no need to cohabitate, tend to create unions with the others. Cohabitation makes it easier to improve economic well-being, as there is more income when both cohabitants are employed, and this is one attractive side of creating a social union. Historically, women have been considered to be the caregivers to men and children, whereas men have always been breadwinners and family defenders. This is why many people are seeking satisfaction of their own demands for social roles – men tend to receive women’s care and assistance, while women are searching for a spouse able to secure material well-being. (Vespa, 2013, p. 935-936). These prescriptions of human nature make individuals pull back their individual views on their prospective spouse or way of family existence, and it is another proof that it is namely social reality that plays constituent role in determining an individual behavior, otherwise the society would not exist, and individuals would be looking for satisfaction of their own needs, which would definitely be harmful for the surrounding people, as too individual way of thinking means no care of the others. Having studied Jonathan Vespa’s article, it is possible to conclude that the rules suggested by Emile Durkheim are observed in it while conducting a sociological research of part of a society. It may seem that the research article written by Jonathan Vespa has nothing to do with Emile Durkheim’s ideas as there is no mentioning of such name, but the analysis of its correspondence with the rules offered by Durkheim proves that it is done according to the views and studies of the sociology founder. Conclusion Emile Durkheim is considered to be the founder of sociology as an independent science and one of its most prominent scientists. His concept of social facts enabled distinguishing sociology from psychology and philosophy, as it was reckoned to be before, and outlined further development of sociology for the coming years and decades. This paper has studied definition and essence of social facts suggested by Durkheim and traced their influence on modern sociological ideas by means of analysis of the article of a modern independent researcher Jonathan Vespa; it was proved that modern views in sociology are still influenced by the rules and principles of Emile Durkheim. References Durkheim, E. (1895). The Rules of Sociological Method. Edited by S. Lukes, translated by W. D. Halls, 1982, p. 35-163. Vespa, J. (2013). Relationship Transitions Among Older Cohabitors: The Role of Health, Wealth, and Family Ties. Journal of Marriage and Family, 75, p. 933-949. Read More