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Emile Durkheim: Studies
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[S]ince sociology was not a subject of instruction either at the secondary schools or at the university, Durkheim embarked upon a career as a teacher in philosophy. From 1882 to 1887 he taught in a number of provincial Lycees in the neighborhood of Paris--except for one year when he received a leave of absence for further study at Paris and in Germany. Durkheim's stay in Germany was mainly devoted to the study of methods of instruction and research in moral philosophy and the social sciences. He spent most of his time in Berlin and Leipzig. In the latter city the famous Psychological Laboratory of Wilhelm Wundt impressed him deeply. In his subsequent reports on his German experiences, Durkheim was enthusiastic about the precision and scientific objectivity in research that he had witnessed in Wundt's laboratory and elsewhere.
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From 1882 to 1885 Durkheim taught philosophy in several provincial lycées. A leave of absence in 1885-1886 allowed him to study under the psychologist Wilhelm Wundt in Germany. In 1887 he was named lecturer in education and sociology at the University of Bordeaux, a position raised to a professorship in 1896, the first professorship of sociology in France.
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Although admission to the Ecole Normale was anachievement in a young man's life, Durkheim, once admitted, seemsnot to have been happy at the Ecole. He was an intenselyearnest, studious, and dedicated young man, soon nicknamed"the metaphysician" by his peers. Athirst for guidingmoral doctrines and earnest scientific instruction, Durkheim wasdissatisfied with the literary and esthetic emphasis that stillpredominated at the school. He rebelled against a course ofstudies in which the reading of Greek verse and Latin proseseemed more important than acquaintance with the newerphilosophical doctrines or the recent findings of the sciences.He felt that the school made far too many concessions to thespirit of dilettantism and tended to reward elegant dabbling andthe quest for "novelty" and "originality" ofexpression rather than solid and systematic learning.
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The main thrust of Durkheim's overall doctrine is his insistence that the study of society must eschew reductionism and consider social phenomena sui generis. Rejecting biologistic or psychologistic interpretations, Durkheim focused attention on the social-structural determinants of mankind's social problems.
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When the war came, Durkheim felt obliged to aid his beleaguered fatherland. He became the secretary of the Committee for the Publication of Studies and Documents on the War, and published several pamphlets in which he attacked pan-Germanism and more particularly the nationalistic writings of Treitschke.
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"This valuable source for a systematic and comprehensive understanding of Durkheim's ideas on the family constitutes a major addition to the literature on the family, social theory, women's studies, and family law. Highly recommended for upper-division undergraduates and above."
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