Structuralism. Emile Durkheim Emile Durkheim (1858-1917). Considered one of the founding...
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Transcript of Structuralism. Emile Durkheim Emile Durkheim (1858-1917). Considered one of the founding...
Structuralism
Emile DurkheimEmile Durkheim (1858-1917). Considered one of the
founding sociologists and the founder of structuralism and functionalism. That suggests two important assumptions by Durkheim: first, that various social institutions have functions that they fulfill in society, and second that society has a structure. When one part of society is shifted, the whole structure shifts. Durkheim’s parents were French Jews; his father was a rabbi. Studied philosophy and taught philosophy for 5 years before moving into a social science position. Died of a stroke at 59. Durkheim was disliked by many of his colleagues, and it took him many years to advance in his career. This is due in part to anti-semitism, and in part to his zealous insistence that sociology was the most important of the sciences. His defense of the importance of sociology made him many enemies.
Durkheim
His books include:• The Division of Labor in Society, which
examines how work is organized (1893)• The Rules of Sociological Method,
which makes suggestions about social science research methods (1895)
• Suicide, which looks at the social sources of suicide (1897)
• The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, which examines the social purposes of religion, looking mostly at aboriginal religions in Australia (1912)
Durkheim’s Study of Suicide
• Near the end of the 19th century, French sociologist Emile Durkheim undertook an experiment to demonstrate the value of sociology
• His goal was to explain suicide in terms of social facts—using the sociological imagination
Durkheim’s Suicide
• We usually explain suicide in terms of individual factors such as depression or turmoil
• There’s no question that every suicide has an individual level explanation in terms of the biography of the person attempting suicide and his/her unique circumstances
Durkheim’s Suicide
• But, suicide rates are social factors
• They are more than the accumulation of stories of all those who have committed suicide
• They also tell a story about the society and time period they represent
Durkheim’s Suicide
• Durkheim compared suicide rates for a number of European countries, as well as the change in these rates over time
• He made a number of important findings
Durkheim’s Suicide
• Suicide rates were higher in Protestant countries than in Catholic countries
• Suicide rates increased during periods of social turmoil, particularly as these countries transitioned into an industrial economy
Durkheim’s Suicide
From these findings, Durkheim developed a typology of suicide, focusing on 3 main types:
1. Egoistic Suicide: Persons who are not sufficiently socially integrated (Protestants)
2. Altruistic Suicide: Persons who are too socially integrated (Widows)
3. Anomic Suicide: Persons whose goals do not align with the norms of the society (particularly because those norms are in flux) (Farmers in an industrializing society)
Structuralism
• The view that our social actions are founded upon basic observable patterns (or structures).
• These structure effectively produce basic laws of the human social world, as biological structures produce basic laws of physiology
• Although all of the early sociologists qualify as structuralists to some degree, this school of thought is largely traced to Emile Durkheim
A Framework for Comparing Theoretical Approaches
Structur-alism
Function-alism
Class Conflict
Inter-pretive
Racial Conflict
Feminist Theory
Queer Inter-sectional
Social Self
Focus of Explan-ation
How society is organized; resources and schema
Purpose of every social institution
Economics Systems of Meaning
Racial hierarchy
Gender Sexuality; social boundaries; mainstream
Comb-ination of race, class, gender, sexuality, etc.
Social Psychology
Implication for Power
Neutral Power important for social cohesion
Ruling class, bourgeoisie and capitalists
Hegemony White supremacy; racial dictatorship
Patriarchy Dispersed Matrix of Domination
Agency
Key Questions
What are the norms, goals, and means?
What need is served by institutions
Who rules? How is strat-ification reproduced
What are the beliefs and values of a society
What does race mean? How is it organized
Relative positions of men and women, meanings of gender
Who is treated as ‘other’? How do the marginalized find power
How do different hierarchies work hand in hand to oppress some and privilege others
Relation-ship between the individual and society; how do social exp. Create identity
Structuralism
Focus of Explanation
How society is organized; resources and schema
Implication for Power
Neutral
Key Questions What are the norms, goals, and means?