Emile Durkheim Biography (cont.)

Although he stressed the importance of socialism in philosophy, law, and history, Emile Durkheim faced opposition from the humanist Faculty of Letters members, who were somewhat afraid that his distinct explanations of legal and moral institutions through reference to purely social causes threatened volition and individual moral duty. Nonetheless, Durkheim did manage to make friends and allies of some of his colleagues, particularily with philosophers Octave Hamelin, and Georges Rodier, who both helped promote Durkheim's rationalist ideas in opposition to the intuitionism, and mysticism, which were now losing their appeal.

While he was at Bordeaux, Emile Durkheim lectured on the history and practice of education, in this excerpt from his 1888 "Course in Sociology: Opening Lecture", he states "...by becoming more specialized, science comes closer to things which are themselves specialized. It thus becomes more objective, more impersonal, and, consequently, accessible to the full range of individual talents and to all workers of good will.". His social science courses and public lectures focused of the study of law, religion, and socialism, and the more specific issues crime, incest, kinship, totemism, and suicide.

In 1893, Durkheim published his first major work, "De la division du travail social" (The Division of Labor in Society), in which he introduced the concept of "anomie", which described the breakdown of the influence of social norms on individuals within a society, meaning that people were no longer expected to abide by a set of sociological rules, and no longer knew what to expect from one another. In 1894, he was permanently appointed associate professor at Bordeaux. In 1895, he published "Les Règles de la méthode sociologique" (The Rules of Sociological Method), his second most important work. In 1897, he published his third major work, "Le Suicide: étude de sociologie" (Suicide : A Study in Sociology).

Two years later, he established an important journalistic collaboration program, which leads to the foundation of the "L'Année Sociologique, France's first Social Science Journal. Prior to this breakthrough, the only publication to have a Sociology section was "La Revue philosophique", which had featured some of Durkheim's writings. In 1902, the chair of "Science of Education", occupied by Ferdinand Buisson, a man instrumental in the implementation of Jules Ferry's educational reforms, became available due to his appointment to the Chamber of Deputies. Durkheim was soon thereafter appointed "Chargé de Cours" at the Sorbonne, and four years later, was made Professeur, later taking over Buisson's chair, which was subsequently named the chair of "Science of Education and Sociology".

In 1912, Durkheim published his fourth major work, "Les Formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse" (The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life), by then, his scientific approach to every social phenomenon, had not only managed to draw the ire of the Catholic Church, some philosophers, and the Right Wing, but he had also gained quite a fair bit of power in the world of academia; his lecture courses were required curriculum for all philosophy, literature, and history students. Durkheim also educated the next generation of teachers who were also glad to follow in his footsteps.

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