Contributions of Emile Durkheim to Sociology

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Major contributions of Emile in sociology The writings of another French Writer, Emile Durkheim have had a more lasting impact on modern sociology than those of Comte. Indeed, he became the pioneer in giving sociology the status of a science and it’s our method of study. Durkheim was born in Lorraine of France in 1858. He was the only founding father who could occupy the part of Professor of Sociology. Although he drew an aspect of Comte's work, Durkheim thought that many of his predecessor's ideas were too speculative and vague. To become scientific, according to Durkheim, sociology must study social facts, i.e. aspects of social life that shape our actions as individuals. Like the other major founders of sociology, Durkheim was preoccupied with the changes transforming society in his own lifetime. His major writings are 'The Division of Labour', 'the rules of sociological method', 'Suicide' and 'The Elementary forms of religious life'. Suicide: One of Durkheim's most famous studies was concerned with the analysis of suicide (Durkheim 1952, originally published in 1897). In his book, he has given a fine sociological analysis of suicide which is based as the theory of sociology or collective mind. The book is praised as a research classic. Suicide seems to be a purely personal act, the outcome of extreme person unhappiness. But Durkheim showed that social factors exert a fundamental influence on suicidal behavior. Durkheim defined suicide as "every case of death resulting directly or indirectly from a positive or negative act performed by the victim himself, which he knows will produce this result". A positive act would be to shoot one or to hang one. In this case, death comes as a direct result of the action. A negative act would be to remain in a burning house or to refuse to take food to the point of starvation. Death in this case comes to an individual
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