Émile Durkheim
French sociologist who founded sociology as a scientific discipline. Suicide demonstrated that even the most individual act has social causes; The Elementary Forms of Religious Life analyzed religion as a social phenomenon. His concepts of anomie and collective consciousness remain central to sociological thought.
Works
- SuicideSociological analysis of suicide rates and their relationship to social conditions
- The Elementary Forms of Religious LifeFoundation of sociology studying collective consciousness and religious ritual
- The Division of Labour in SocietySociological examination of specialization and interdependence in complex societies
- Rules of the Sociological MethodFoundational sociological methodology establishing science as a study of social facts
- Moral EducationHow moral values and ethical behavior develop through social institutions
- The Rules of Sociological MethodFoundational sociological methodology establishing science as a study of social facts