6.3 Social Facts
Summary
TLDRThe transcript emphasizes Durkheim's foundational sociological concept that social facts cannot be reduced to individual behaviors. He argues that collectives exhibit unique characteristics, like cohesion and regulation, not present in individuals. Durkheim introduces 'collective consciousness' as a key to social cohesion, contrasting with individual psychology. He refutes mass psychology's view that sociology is redundant, asserting that group dynamics create new social phenomena, akin to how life emerges from molecules in biology. Sociology, therefore, is a distinct science, necessary to understand these emergent social facts.
Takeaways
- ๐ง The core of Durkheim's philosophy is that social facts should not be reduced to individual behaviors; doing so would be a scientific error.
- ๐ฅ Social phenomena can only be explained by referring to prior social facts, emphasizing the importance of societal context over individual psychology.
- ๐ Durkheim argues against reductionism, advocating for the study of social facts at the societal level, not the individual level.
- ๐ฌ His famous phrase, 'The whole is more than the sum of its parts,' counters the idea that groups are merely collections of individuals.
- ๐ค Critics accused Durkheim of mystifying reality by suggesting groups have characteristics beyond their members, but he aimed to highlight emergent properties.
- ๐ค Durkheim introduced the concept of 'collective consciousness' or 'collective conscience,' which became central to understanding social cohesion.
- ๐ซ He disagreed with mass psychologists who believed sociology was redundant, as they thought understanding individuals would explain group behavior.
- ๐ Durkheim believed that when individuals form groups, new social phenomena emerge that are unique to the collective and not found in individuals.
- ๐ In 'The Rules of Sociological Method,' Durkheim outlines that social facts are external and coercive, exerting pressure on individuals.
- ๐ฌ He compares the study of social facts to biology, where the study of life is separate from the study of molecules, emphasizing sociology's unique subject matter.
Q & A
What is the core concept of Durkheim's sociology?
-The core concept of Durkheim's sociology is that social facts should not be reduced to individual behaviors. Social phenomena can only be explained with reference to antecedent social facts and should be understood within the context of social reality.
Why is it considered a scientific error to reduce social effects to individual effects according to Durkheim?
-Reducing social effects to individual effects is a scientific error because it overlooks the unique characteristics that emerge from the collective interactions of individuals, which are essential to understanding social phenomena.
What does Durkheim mean by 'the whole is more than the sum of its parts'?
-Durkheim uses this phrase to emphasize that the collective properties of a group cannot be understood simply by examining the individuals within it. There are emergent properties that arise from the group's structure and interactions.
How does Durkheim define 'collective consciousness' or 'collective conscience'?
-Durkheim defines 'collective consciousness' or 'collective conscience' as the shared beliefs, values, and morals that are common to all members of a society, which contribute to social cohesion and are distinct from individual consciousness.
What was Durkheim's stance on the relationship between sociology and psychology?
-Durkheim disagreed with the idea that sociology was a superfluous science in relation to psychology. He argued that sociology studies phenomena that are sui generis, or unique to the social realm, and cannot be fully explained by individual psychology.
What is the significance of Durkheim's comparison of social facts to biological life?
-Durkheim's comparison of social facts to biological life is significant because it illustrates that just as life emerges from the organization of molecules in a cell, social phenomena emerge from the organization of individuals in society.
What does Durkheim mean by 'phenomena sui generis' in the context of sociology?
-Durkheim uses 'phenomena sui generis' to describe social facts that are unique and irreducible to individual psychological or biological processes. They are phenomena that can only be understood within the social context.
In what year did Durkheim publish 'The Rules of Sociological Method' and what is its significance?
-Durkheim published 'The Rules of Sociological Method' in 1895. It is significant as it outlines the philosophical and epistemological foundations of sociology, emphasizing the importance of studying social facts as external and coercive forces.
How does Durkheim view the coercive nature of social facts?
-Durkheim views social facts as coercive because they exert pressure on individuals, influencing their thoughts, feelings, and actions. This coercive nature is a key aspect of social facts that differentiates them from individual behaviors.
What does Durkheim suggest is the role of sociology in relation to other sciences?
-Durkheim suggests that sociology should be a distinct science dedicated to studying social facts, separate from sciences that focus on individuals, such as psychology, because social facts are phenomena sui generis that require their own methods of study.
How does Durkheim's perspective on social facts challenge reductionism?
-Durkheim's perspective challenges reductionism by asserting that social facts cannot be fully understood by examining only the individuals that constitute them. Instead, social facts must be studied as emergent phenomena that have their own unique characteristics and causality.
Outlines
๐ง Durkheim's Critique of Reductionism
The first paragraph emphasizes the core principle of Durkheim's sociological theory, which is the rejection of reductionism in understanding social phenomena. Durkheim argues that social facts, the observable phenomena in human collectives, cannot be reduced to individual behaviors or characteristics. He posits that social facts are sui generis, meaning they have a unique existence and should be explained by referencing other social facts, not individual psychology. Durkheim's famous phrase, 'The whole is more than the sum of its parts,' is introduced to illustrate that collectives possess characteristics that are not present in the individuals that form them. He counters critics who accuse him of mystifying reality by asserting that social groups have emergent properties, much like how life emerges from the organization of molecules in biology. Durkheim's concept of 'collective consciousness' or 'collective conscience' is introduced as a key source of social cohesion, replacing 'organic solidarity' in his later works. He also challenges mass psychology professors who view sociology as unnecessary, arguing that the study of individuals does not suffice to understand the new phenomena that arise from their association in social groups.
๐ Durkheim's Sociological Method
The second paragraph delves into Durkheim's seminal work, 'The Rules of Sociological Method,' published in 1895. This book outlines the philosophical and epistemological foundations of sociology and the social sciences. Durkheim asserts that social facts are external to individuals and coercive, exerting pressure and influencing how individuals think, feel, and act. He emphasizes that social facts are phenomena sui generis and should not be explained by reducing them to individual levels. The paragraph also touches on the far-reaching implications of this view, particularly in Durkheim's sociology of religion. Durkheim's argument is that the association of human beings creates new social facts that require a distinct scientific study, which is the domain of sociology, not individual sciences like psychology. He uses the analogy of biology, which studies life as a phenomenon emerging from the peculiar association of molecules, to argue for sociology as a science dedicated to studying social facts in their own right.
Mindmap
Keywords
๐กSocial Facts
๐กReductionism
๐กCollective Consciousness
๐กOrganic Solidarity
๐กSociological Method
๐กExternality
๐กCoercive
๐กPhenomena Suies
๐กCritique of Mass Psychology
๐กBiological Analogy
Highlights
Social facts should not be reduced to individual behaviors; they exist at a collective level.
Reducing social effects to individual effects is a scientific error.
Social phenomena can only be explained with reference to antecedent social facts.
Sociologists must resist the temptation of reductionism and remain focused on social reality.
The whole is more than the sum of its parts, indicating the complexity of social groups.
Ascribed characteristics to groups beyond individuals can lead to metaphysical thinking, according to critics.
Durkheim argues that social groups have unique characteristics not found in individuals.
Social groups exhibit phenomena like density, regulation, and cohesion, which are emergent properties.
Durkheim introduced the concept of 'collective consciousness' or 'collective conscience' as a key to social cohesion.
Durkheim faced criticism from mass psychology professors who saw sociology as unnecessary.
Sociological phenomena are sui generis and cannot be explained by individual psychology alone.
The association of individuals creates new social facts, a concept paralleled with the emergence of life from molecules in biology.
Social facts are external to individuals and exert a coercive pressure on them.
Durkheim's work emphasizes the need for sociology as a distinct science to study social facts.
The Rules of Sociological Method outlines the philosophical and epistemological foundations of sociology.
Social facts are characterized by being external and coercive, shaping individual thoughts and actions.
Durkheim's ideas challenge the reductionist approach and advocate for the study of social facts in their own right.
Transcripts
DM's most important idea the kernel of
everything that he wants us to
understand is that social facts the
phenomena that we observe and try to
explain when we study human collectives
can and should never be reduced to the
level of the individual human beings
that belong to such a collective if you
do that if you reduce a social effect to
an individual effect you make an
inexcusable scientific
error social facts can only be explained
with reference to antecedent social
facts the sociologist should always
remain on the level of social reality
and should resist the sweet seduction of
reductionism this is a difficult
argument that Durham sometimes put into
words that gave ammunition to his
critics he loved to use for example a
sentence that he borrowed from one of
the philosophy professors of his student
days the whole is more than the sum of
its parts that expression made it a bit
too easy for his opponents to ask how a
group of people can be anything else
than just the individual people
composing the group if we ascribe to
that group a little something extra they
said then we mystify reality we fall
victim to what AUST K called
metaphysical
thinking that is what the critic said
but that is not at all what durm
intended to convey to his readers the
point that he wants to make is that when
h human beings are woven together in
larger social
entities those collectives possess
peculiar characteristics that cannot be
found in the individuals that constitute
them the social group may have a certain
density we may discern a degree of
Regulation a certain amount of cohesion
we may even quantify its birth rate or
its suicide rate and all those
characteristics are attributes of the
entire social formation they cannot be
found in the individual members they
rise up they emerge from the structure
as a
whole du even wrote about what he called
a conscience Collective you can
translate that as collective
Consciousness but you can also translate
it as collective conscience in his later
books this concept became more and more
important it replaced in a way organic
solidarity as the most important source
of social
cohesion now Duram had to confront the
professors of mass
psychology who believe that sociology
was a Superfluous science because they
already studied the things that
sociologists said that they were going
to study when the psychologist of
individual human beings really
understands what goes on in the brains
of one single man or woman they said
then it is not so difficult to
understand what happens when 1,000 of
those people form a group and here
Durham disagreed
completely when human beings get
together in larger social entities he
says this process of Association creates
entirely new phenomena that cannot be
found in the elements that compose it
the social facts that emerge from the
association of individual human beings
belong to a class all of their own or to
use the Latin expression that durm often
employed they are phenomena
suies and no there is nothing mystical
or metaphysical about that he tries to
make his point here with a comparison a
comparison taken from the world of
biology we all believe he says that a
living cell consists of nothing but
molecules and if those molecules are
ordered in a certain way then we may see
at the level of the living cell as a
whole a completely new phenomenon
surprisingly springing forth from the
associated parts that wonderful thing
that we call
life of course it is impossible to say
that life life can be found in this one
or in that one of the assembled
molecules it is their very peculiar
Association that creates something new a
phenomenon that is studied in a science
that stands apart from the sciences that
like physics or chemistry study
molecules and of course that is the
science of Life the science of biology
and just in the same way the so
associations of the association of human
beings creates new phenomena social
facts that should be studied not by The
Sciences of individuals such as
psychology but by the science that is
dedicated to the study of social facts
and nothing but social facts the science
of
Sociology you can find this argument in
a small book that dur published in
1895 the rules of sociological method
not quite a methodology book in the
restricted sense of the word but a book
about the philosophical and the
epistemological foundations of Sociology
of the social sciences in
general in that book he says that social
facts are characterized in the first
place by being outside of each and every
individual they are external to the
individual and that they are
characterized in the second place by the
fact that they exert a certain pressure
on every individual they are coercive we
experience them as a power forcing us to
think and feel and act in certain ways
and that is an important point with
far-reaching consequences as we shall
see when we discuss his sociology of
religion but the heart of the matter is
that social facts are phenomena suties
that they should never be explained by
reducing them to the level of individual
human beings they exist in a world all
of their
own
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