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Emile Durkheim was born in eastern France in 1858. At the age of thirteen, he had a traditional Jewish confirmation which was soon followed by an interest in Catholicism. This did not last for long thought, he soon became totally disinterested in all religions and became an agnostic. Durkheim was always a wonderful student when he attended the College d'Epinal and then later the prestigious Ecole Normale.
Emile Durkheim was born in eastern France in 1858. At the age of thirteen, he had a traditional Jewish confirmation which was soon followed by an interest in Catholicism. This did not last for long thought, he soon became totally disinterested in all religions and became an agnostic. Durkheim was always a wonderful student when he attended the College d'Epinal and then later the prestigious Ecole Normale.
While early on in his work, Durkheim classified social facts by exteriority and constraint, he later gave his views a 180 degree turn and said that they were internalized and a part of the consciousness of individuals.
Durkheim was highly involved with groups and structures and the characteristics that make them up. He did not want to focus on individual attributes. When studying groups, Durkheim focused on the rates that certain things occurred. This allowed him to compare separate groups and structures more effectively. One of the main things that he studied in groups were suicide rates in groups. Through these types of studies, Durkheim was able to see how different groups were integrated. Integration shows that some groups have strong control over it's members and others allow their members to have more control over their own actions.
Emile Durkheim used his own terms to describe the differences in groups and the way they think and act. He defined mechanical solidarity as members of a society being more devoted to the common good when individual differences are minimized. Organic solidarity, he said, was a product of a division of labor the developed because of differences in a group.
A brilliant man, Durkheim knew that moral unity was necessary for the survival of a group. Emile Durkheim died in 1917.
Copright 2001 Jason Smith
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