Before learning about the social facts given by Durkheim, let us have a glimpse of his contribution to sociology. Emile Durkheim Social Facts
- Durkheim is the forefather of functionalist belief in Sociology, hence called one of the discoverers of Sociology.
- He provided a macro view of society and well-defined the subject matter of Sociology.
- He tried to develop a science of society using methods of multivariate analysis.
- According to Durkheim, social science should be capable of
- Dealing with the specific subject matter and not total surrounding knowledge.
- Should aim at finding common types rather than describing individual types.
- Study objective reality and produce universal principles or laws.
- Social fact is a theory developed by Emile Durkheim to define how ethics, beliefs, and rules control the activities and opinions of individuals and society as a whole.
About Emile Durkheim Social Facts.
- Durkheim considered social facts as the subject matter of sociology.
- He believed that social facts are ‘sui generic (unique) and must be studied as different from the biotic and psychosomatic processes.
- The social facts can be well-defined as the patterns of behavior that use some forcible control upon individuals.
- Social facts are imagined as similar to natural evidence that tried to recognize society in terms of some universal rules.
- Social facts happen outside the individual as a force causing the individual to think, act and feel in a specific way.
- Durkheim suggests that every sociologist should study social facts as things just like things in the natural world are studied. Emile Durkheim Social Facts
Features of social facts.
- Social facts have a forcing influence over individual action.
- They occur outside the individual.
- They are independent of the self-control of the individuals i.e, they can’t be changed by individuals.
Types Of Social Facts.
Social facts are categorized into two types:
- Material social facts – examples of material social facts include Styles of architecture, technological forms, division of labor, and legal codes.
- Non-material social facts – Some examples of non-material social facts include culture, social institutions, morality, and united ethics. Emile Durkheim Social Facts
Several examples were used by Durkheim to validate his theory of social facts.
- People living in the same area speak the same language. Their dialects and idioms are passed on over generations. After years, these rules and norms can recognize someone as being part of a specific area.
- Social facts characterize our religion. Every area has a specified religion with a faith that religions are part of one’s life. With this other religions are considered strange.
Society has the same ideology towards marriage that includes apt age for marriage, ceremonies, and culture to be followed. In other countries, or the western world, where these customs are violated or not followed is considered repulsion by people of the country where these rituals are followed. Emile Durkheim Social Facts
Criticisms.
- Weber declares that social facts lie inside an individual and their effects are based on a person’s understanding of the social fact.
- Merton rejected the general theories and suggested middle-range philosophies.
- Stephen Lukes mentions that Durkheim has overestimated observation and neglected individual subjectivity.
- Heildleman deliberates that Durkheim is more anxious about making a society rather than labeling a method for it. Emile Durkheim Social Facts
