Durkheim's History
I. Context
• The roots of the field of sociology can be traced in 19th century France.
• Emile Durkheim was born on April 15 1858 in Epinal, France.
• He was descended from a long line of rabbis and himself studied to be a rabbi, but by the time he was in his teens, he had largely rejected his heritage.
• He was dissatisfied not only with his religious training but also with his general education and its emphasis on literary and esthetic matters.
• He longed for schooling in the scientific methods and in moral principles needed to guide social life.
• He rejected a traditional career in philosophy and sought instead to acquire the scientific training needed to contribute to the moral guidance of society.
• Although he was interested in scientific sociology, there was no field of sociology at that time, so between 1882 to 1887 he taught philosophy instead in a number of provincial schools in the Paris area.
• In 1883, he published his French doctoral thesis, The Division of Labor in Society – considered to be sociology’s first classic.
• In 1887, he gained a position in the department of philosophy at the University of Bourdeaux where he taught the first course in social science in a France.
• In 1902, he was summoned to the famous French University the Sorbonne, and in 1906 he was named professor of the science of education, a title that was changed in 1913 to professor of the science of education and sociology.
• He died on November 15, 1917 in Paris.
• The influence of Durkheim goes beyond sociology, his ideas also pervade anthropology, history, linguistics and psychology.
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