Emile Durkheim: Theory of Religion, Theory of Suicide, Division

Durkheim took the most private act imaginable — a person taking their own life — and showed it followed a social pattern, varying systematically with how integrated a person was into their community. If even suicide has a social explanation, Durkheim's larger point follows naturally: society is not just the sum of individuals, but something with its own patterns a science can study.

In two minutes

Emile Durkheim advanced sociology as a rigorous empirical science by showing that religion serves as a source of social solidarity, that suicide rates vary systematically with social integration and regulation, and that the division of labour produces two contrasting forms of social solidarity as societies grow more complex.

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