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DURKHEIM, ÉMILE (1858–1917) of Individual Actors; They Both Define and a Nationality, and the State

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DURKHEIM, ÉMILE (1858–1917) of Individual Actors; They Both Define and a Nationality, and the State Durkheim, Émile parts, showing how those parts developed throughout history, and identifying the con- (1858–1917) ditions and causes of the unit’s coming into ERIC MALCZEWSKI being. Harvard University, USA Durkheim’s concept of collective con- sciousness refers to the basis of social solidarity (i.e., the basic process by which David Émile Durkheim was a progenitor of social units cohere), which can be traced to sociology and remains (alongside Karl Marx the conformity of each individual conscious- and Max Weber) one of social science’s cen- ness to a collective type; and a collective type tral founding figures. In addition to authoring is constituted by the total social similarities several major studies, Durkheim edited the or the sum of beliefs and sentiments common influential journal Année sociologique.He to the average members of a society. For soci- held the first chair of sociology in France at ological explanation, an individual’s personal the University of Paris. He was born on April state of consciousness is not seen as the deci- 15, 1858 in Épinal, France. He died in Paris sive element determining his or her behavior; on November 15, 1917. rather it is the collective consciousness—that One of Durkheim’s central aims was to is, the aspect of the individual’s total con- construct the science of society—to treat the sciousness that is shared with members of the facts of social life according to the methods of group of which the individual is a part. The the empirical sciences. Durkheim’s guiding resemblance of individual consciousnesses to claim is that society is a reality sui generis the collective type is the characteristic that that shapes and conditions the individual marks membership in the group and provides actor. Durkheim argues that explanations the explanatory factor concerning this type concerning types or manners of individual of social cohesion. action locate the causal origin of action in The basic set of facts that Durkheim delin- society, and yet these types or manners are eated was made up of social facts,which concomitantly carried and realized by indi- consist in manners of acting, thinking, and vidual actors. Although Durkheim never feeling that are external to the individual conducted a study of nationalism, it is quite and are endowed with a power of coercion clearwhatsuchastudywouldhaveentailed in virtue of which they impose themselves forhim:itwouldbecentrallyconcerned on him (Durkheim 1937: 5). The broader with defining the specific form of collective set of facts captured by Durkheim’s concept consciousness, or the totality of beliefs and of institutions—namely all the beliefs and sentiments common to the average man all the modes of behavior instituted by the within the putative national unit; it would collectivity (1937: xxii)—composes both the have a central subject matter, comprised social facts and the theoretical entities (e.g., essentially of social facts and of theoretical collective representations) that are based on entities based on those facts; and it would analyses of these forms. “Collective represen- be genealogical in its approach, breaking tations” refers to a category of theoretical enti- thenationalunitdownintoitscomponent ties that explain the basic cognitive functions The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism, First Edition. Edited by John Stone, Rutledge M. Dennis, Polly S. Rizova, Anthony D. Smith, and Xiaoshuo Hou. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. DOI: 10.1002/9781118663202.wberen023 2 DURKHEIM, ÉMILE (1858–1917) of individual actors; they both define and a nationality, and the state. Durkheim writes explain the central processes responsible for of a people: the creation of social facts. Hence Durkheim referred to sociology as the science of insti- Apeople,fromthemerefactthatitisapeople, tutions, their genesis, and their functioning will have an intellectual and moral temper- (1937: xxii). He argues that only through ament, a character which will assert itself in every detail of its thoughts and acts … this the careful study of the past can we come to popular soul will find expression in literary understand the present and anticipate the monuments, epics, myths, legends, etc., which, future. The study of nationalism would there- without being referable to any particular author fore entail, for him, genealogical historical willhaveakindofinternalunityliketheworks investigation. In order to understand the of individuals. It is from the same source that nature of nationalism in general (or of one we derive those bodies of juridical customs, the first forms of law. (Durkheim 1915: 28–29) nation in particular), one must discover the characteristic qualities that define this form of Of a nationality he writes: collective consciousness; and, to do this, one must study the past. All human institutions A nationality is a group of human beings, who for are rooted in history, so Durkheim’s expla- ethnical or perhaps merely for historical reasons nations emphasize seeking an understanding desire to live under the same laws, and to form a singleState,largeorsmall,asitmaybe:anditis of their genesis as well as of the function they now a recognized principle among civilized peo- serve in their historical context. ples that, when this common desire has been per- Durkheim’s interest in understanding and sistently affirmed, it commands respect, and is explaining contemporary society led him to indeed the only solid basis of a State. (Durkheim identify certain key characteristics of French 1915: 40) andGermancollectiveconsciousness,and He refers to the state as “the people awak- in this way there are empirical guiding lights ened to a consciousness of itself, of its needs that inform and complement his general and its aspirations” (Durkheim 1915: 27). theoretical and methodological view and suggest concretely what qualities a study SEE ALSO: Citizenship and Nationality; of French or German nationalism would Nationalism; Solidarity need to account for. Representative aspects of the French collective consciousness that REFERENCES Durkheim identifies in his works are the Durkheim, Émile. 1915. L’Allemagne au-dessus sacredandsupremevalueoftheindividual de tout: La mentalité allemande et la guerre. (Durkheim 2002) and an essential Carte- [Germany above All: German Mentality and the War]. Paris: Colin. sianism (Durkheim 1938). The aspects of Durkheim, Émile. 1937 [1895]. Les Règles de la theGermancollectiveconsciousnessthathe méthode sociologique. [The Rules of Sociological identifiesincorporateviewsofthestateasthe Method]. Paris: Quadrige Presses Universitaires highest form of community, views of the state de France. as sovereign, and the concomitant view that Durkheim, Émile. 1938. L’Évolution pédago- the state is power, encapsulated in the motto gique en France.[The Evolution of Educational Thought in France]. Paris: Presses Universitaires Deutschland über alles,“Germanyaboveall” de France. (Durkheim 1915). Durkheim, moreover, Durkheim, Émile. 2002 [1898]. “L’Individualisme offers a view on certain concepts that are et les intellectuels. [Individualism and the Intel- central to the study of nationalism—a people, lectuals].” Revue bleue 4(10): 7–13. DURKHEIM, ÉMILE (1858–1917) 3 FURTHER READING Forms of Religious Life]. Paris: Quadrige Presses Durkheim, Émile. 1930 [1893]. De la division du Universitaires de France. travail social. [The Division of Labor in Soci- Durkheim, Émile. 2004 [1897]. Le Suicide: Étude de ety]. Paris: Quadrige Presses Universitaires de sociologie. [Suicide: A Sociological Study]. Paris: France. Quadrige Presses Universitaires de France. Durkheim, Émile. 1960 [1912]. LesFormesélé- mentaires de la vie religieuse. [The Elementary.
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