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Sociology: Durkheim and social facts · Social Facts and Sociological Method

What Durkheim meant by social facts, how he proposed to study them scientifically, and why his method still shapes sociology.

Sociology · 25 questions

Try 3 questions

1. What did Émile Durkheim mean by a social fact?

  1. A shared way of acting that constrains individuals
  2. A personal habit that many people happen to share
  3. A fact about society gathered through surveys
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Answer: A shared way of acting that constrains individuals

Durkheim defined social facts as ways of acting, thinking and feeling that exist outside individuals and exert pressure on them, such as laws, customs and language.

2. Which two properties did Durkheim say identify a social fact?

  1. Externality and constraint
  2. Universality and permanence
  3. Conscious choice and consent
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Answer: Externality and constraint

A social fact exists outside any single person and imposes itself on them; those two marks distinguish it from purely individual psychology.

3. What was Durkheim's famous first rule of sociological method?

  1. Treat social facts as things
  2. Explain society through the motives of individuals
  3. Judge social facts by their moral value
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Answer: Treat social facts as things

By 'things' he meant realities to be studied from outside, through observation, rather than ideas we already understand from introspection.

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