Emile Durkheim

Eliana Howerton

Sociology 1010

Wooten

 Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) by: Eliana Howerton

Emile Durkheim was a French sociologist, social psychologist, and philosopher who was born on April 18, 1858 in Epinal, France. His mother was the daughter of a merchant and rabbi. His family was oxford Jewish, and had an influential presence within the community. His family had lived in the region for several generations and his father, grandfather, and great grandfather had all been rabbi's. It was expected that Emile would follow the tradition. He began his education in a rabbinical school, but early into it decided it was not the path he wanted to go down. He switched schools with the intent to study religion from an agnostic point of view instead of being propagandized. He broke with his Jewish faith. However, he did not sever ties with his Jewish family or community. He attended the Collège d'Epinal, and easily skipped two years. He obtained his baccalaureates in Letters (1874) and Sciences (1875) and became intent on becoming a teacher. After Graduation, He left Epinal to prepare for Paris. Durkheim, who was an exceptional student enrolled in prestigious École Normale Supérieure, in 1879. During his years at Ecole, the student base was a particularly exceptional one. Alumni consisted of such people as the sociologist Jean Jaurès, the philosophers Henri Bergson, Bustave Belot, Edmond Goblot, Felix Rauh, and Maurice Blondel, the psychologist Pierre Janet, the linguist Ferdinand Brunot, the historians Henri Berr and Camille Jullian, and the geographer Lucien Gallois. He graduated in 1879.

Durkheim was ill through most of 1881-1882. Despite his illness he was able to successfully pass his aagrégation(An extremely compet...

... middle of paper ...

... reluctance to give them favor. Many of his students were drafted to serve in army and died in the trenches. The final blow came when Durkheim’s own son died in December of 1915. A loss that utterly shattered him. He fell into withdrawal, and did not allow his friends to utter his son’s name within his presence. Durkhein succumbed to stroke, and died in Paris, in 1917.

Emile Durkheim is considered by many to be the father of sociology. During his lifetime he was wrote many publications on social sciences and human behavior. He is credited with establishing sociology as a discipline. Through his major publication Suicide: A Study on Sociology, he revolutionized the way we look at and analyze suicide. He sought to identify links between religions in different cultures, and understand the social aspect of religion beyond the concepts of the supernatural, and God.