Emile Durkheim has made significant contributions to the field of sociology. During his lifetime, he was an accomplished teacher, writer, and sociologist. He founded the first social science journal in France called the Annee Sociologique in 1896. He implemented this to publicize and publish scholarly work by students. Durkheim was also one of the first to define functionalism, which he explained as the existence of different functions in a society. During his years as a teacher, Durkheim wrote numerous journals and books that related to the sociological studies of individuals and families, functions and roles, and suicide.
THE DIVISION OF LABOR IN SOCIETY (1893)
The Division of Labor was Emile Durkheimís first major work. It was explained as the division and field of work among people. Durkheim identified society as being held together by mechanical solidarity, which is the shared similarities of values, norms, and beliefs of individuals. Or by organic solidarity, which is the division of labor into specialty jobs with the purpose of creating a dependence for one another. Durkheim often associated mechanical solidarity with collective consciousness, which he introduced as the foundation of social order that shapes society. He believed that collective consciousness is suited for individuals in a traditional society, and an organic solidarity suits a modern society.
THE RULES OF SOCIOLOGICAL METHOD (1895)
In The Rules of Sociological Method, Emile Durkheim stated that sociology was a study of sui generis, which is a concise fact that is different from the ones that were studied by other sciences. He called this fact a social fact, which is defined as the social structure and cultural norms and values that are external to the individual. And can be referred to as facts, concepts and expectations that come from the society, not from the individual. Social facts influence the behaviours and actions of the individual in their society.
Suicide was a groundbreaking book in itís time that was based on the fundamentals of sociology. At this time, suicide was viewed as more of an individualís desperation, but Durkheim distinguished suicide as coinciding with the individualís role in society. Durkheim observed that an extreme in either higher or lower levels of social unison leads to an increase in suicides. Individuals who are not willing to integrate have an increased risk of committing suicide. In this book, Durkheim created the term anomie, which he defined as the condition where social and moral norms are confused, vague, or not present, resulting in abnormal behaviour.