Emile Durkheim introduced the concept of social facts explaining that “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 absolutely central to Durkheim's entire intellectual mission. They are crucial, for example, to his research methodology (Coser 1971; Giddens 1971), most notably his recommendation to view society, or social facts, as things (Durkheim 1938, p. 14). It was precisely the character of these things as external to any individual that rendered themA social fact cannot be explained except by another social fact, which to Durkheim meant that the "inner social environment" is the primary motive force underlying all social evolution. Indeed, the sense of this "specific nature of social reality" is so important to the sociologist, Durkheim argued, that a "purely sociological culture," an
Abstract. Recent applications of social capital theories to population health often draw on classic sociological theories for validation of the protective features of social cohesion and social integration. Durkheim’s work on suicide has been cited as evidence that modern life disrupts social cohesion and results in a greater risk of
From Emile Durkheim, The Rules of the Sociological Method, (Originally published, 1895) What is a Social Fact? Before beginning the search for the method appropriate to the study of social facts it is important to know what are the facts termed 'social'. The question is all the more necessary because the term is used without much precision.
Social facts must be investigated in the real world as people look for other things. According to Durkheim, there are two kinds of social facts: First, social facts in material form. Where this social fact is something that can be listened to, captured, and observed. Social facts are part of the real world. For example, architecture, and on
The totality of beliefs and sentiments common to the average members of a society forms a determinate system with a life of its own. It can be termed the collective or common consciousness. In Suicide, Durkheim developed the concept of anomie to refer to the social rather than individual causes of suicide.
