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Emile Durkheim Quotes

Sociologist

Émile Durkheim, a French sociologist born on April 15, 1858, and died on November 15, 1917, is considered the father of sociology. His work profoundly influenced the understanding of social structure, social functions, and collective consciousness.

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All Men Social Ifs Doe Facts Individual Moral Whole Human Nature Firsts Law Morality Order Reality Sadness States Suicide World Belief Collectives

Famous Emile Durkheim Quotes

“A social fact is every way of acting, fixed or not, capable of exercising on the individual an external constraint; or again, every way of acting which is general throughout a given society, while at the same time existing in its own right independent of its individual manifestations.”

Way Facts Individual Given Social Acting Human Nature Exercise Capable Independent Fixed Manifestation Constraints

Author:Emile Durkheim

“An act cannot be defined by the end sought by the actor, for an identical system of behaviour may be adjustable to too many different ends without altering its nature.”

May Different Ends Actors Human Nature Defined Behaviour Identical

Book:Suicide: A Study in Sociology

Source: Suicide: A Study in Sociology

“Man is only a moral being because he lives in society, since morality consists in solidarity with the group, and varies according to that solidarity. Cause all social life to vanish, and moral life would vanish at the same time, having no object to cling to.”

Men Social Causes Moral Groups Human Nature Objects Morality Solidarity Vary Social Life Moral Life

Book:The Division of Labor in Society

Source: The Division of Labor in Society

“Society is not a mere sum of individuals. Rather, the system formed by their association represents a specific reality which has its own characteristics... The group thinks, feels, and acts quite differently from the way in which its members would were they isolated. If, then, we begin with the individual, we shall be able to understand nothing of what takes place in the group.”

Ifs Thinking Way Feels Reality Able Individual Groups Human Nature Members Mere Characteristics Association Isolated If Then

Author:Emile Durkheim

“The first and most basic rule is to consider social facts as things.”

Firsts Facts Social Human Nature Fundamentals

Author:Emile Durkheim

“It is not human nature which can assign the variable limits necessary to our needs. They are thus unlimited so far as they depend on the individual alone. Irrespective of any external regulatory force, our capacity for feeling is in itself an insatiable and bottomless abyss.”

Needs Humans Feelings Individual Force Human Nature Depends Limits Capacity Unlimited Abyss Variables Insatiable

Book:Suicide

Source: Suicide

About the Author

Born: April 15, 1858
Died: November 15, 1917
Known for: Sociologist
Quotes: 69

Books & Sources

SuicideRelated source material

Suicide: A Study in SociologyRelated source material

Emile Durkheim on Morality and SocietyRelated source material

Durkheim on Religion: A Selection of Readings with Bibliographies and Introductory RemarksRelated source material

The Division of Labor in SocietyRelated source material

The Rules of Sociological Method: And Selected Texts on Sociology and its MethodRelated source material

The Elementary Forms of the Religious LifeRelated source material

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