Emile Durkheim Quotes
Emile Durkheim was a French sociologist and philosopher and one of the founders of the modern discipline of sociology. His Rules of Sociological Method established the autonomy of social facts as a domain of inquiry irreducible to individual psychology, while The Division of Labor in Society, Suicide, and The Elementary Forms of Religious Life developed wide-ranging analyses of solidarity, anomie, and the social origins of religion. The quotes below are attributed to Emile Durkheim, organized by topic.
Browse Emile Durkheim by topic
Emile Durkheim on Freedom
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“As an industrialist, I am free to apply the technical methods of former centuries; but by doing so, I should invite certain ruin.”
The Rules of Sociological Method,1895 | p. 3
Emile Durkheim on God
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Attributed to Emile Durkheim:
“Religion is the system of symbols by means of which society becomes conscious of itself.”
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“Kant postulates God, since without this hypothesis morality is unintelligible. We postulate a society specifically distinct from individuals, since otherwise morality has no object and duty no roots.”
Sociology and philosophy (1911), D. Pocock, trans. (1974), p. 51. -
“It is society which, fashioning us in its image, fills us with religious, political, and moral beliefs that control our actions.”
Suicide: A Study in Sociology(1897)
Emile Durkheim on Justice
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“When mores are sufficient, laws are unnecessary; when mores are insufficient, laws are unenforceable.”
As attributed in: Jeffrey Eisenach et al. (1993), Readings in renewing American civilization, p. 54
Emile Durkheim on Knowledge
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“For if society lacks the unity that derives from the fact that the relationships between its parts are exactly regulated, that unity resulting from the harmonious articulation of its various functions assured by effective discipline and if, in addition, society lacks the unity based upon the commitment of men's wills to a common objective, then it is no more than a pile of sand that the least jolt or the slightest puff will suffice to scatter.”
Émile Durkheim (1903/1961, p. 102); Quoted in: Kenneth Allan (2012). Explorations in Classical Sociological Theory: Seeing the Social World: Seeing the Social World p. 151 -
“There is no sociology worthy of the name which does not possess a historical character.”
Émile Durkheim, Debate on Explanation in History and Sociology (1908). -
“This work had its origins in the question of the relations of the individual to social solidarity . Why does the individual, while becoming more autonomous, depend more upon society ? How can he be at once more individual and more solidary? Certainly, these two movements, contradictory as they appear, develop in parallel fashion. This is the problem we are raising. It appeared to us that what resolves this apparent antinomy is a transformation of social solidarity due to the steadily growing development of the division of labor .”
Preface -
“The division of labour is not of recent origin, but it was only at the end of the eighteenth century that social cognizance was taken of the principle. though, until then, unwitting submission had been rendered to it. To be sure, several thinkers from earliest times saw its importance; but Adam Smith was the first to attempt a theory of it. Moreover, he adopted this phrase that social science later lent to biology .”
p. 39; Lead paragraph -
“p. 39; Lead paragraph”
The division of labour is not of recent origin, but it was only at the end of the eighteenth century that social cognizance was taken of the principle. though, until then, unwitting submission had been rendered to it. To be sure, several thinkers from earliest times saw its importance; but Adam Smith was the first to attempt a theory of it. Moreover, he adopted this phrase that social science late
Emile Durkheim on Life
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“At the moment when this solidarity exercises its force, our personality vanishes, as our definition permits us to say, for we are no longer ourselves, but the collective life.”
The Division of Labor in Society(1893) | p. 130 (in 1933 edition)
Emile Durkheim on Mind
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Attributed to Emile Durkheim:
“Anomie is a state of normlessness, in which the individual is left without a moral compass.”
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“A passion for the infinite is daily presented as a sign of moral distinction, when in fact it can only occur in disturbed minds which accord the status of a norm to the very disturbance from which they are suffering.”
Suicide: A Study in Sociology(1897)
Emile Durkheim on Nature
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“For if society lacks the unity that derives from the fact that the relationships between its parts are exactly regulated, that unity resulting from the harmonious articulation of its various functions assured by effective discipline and if, in addition, society lacks the unity based upon the commitment of men's wills to a common objective, then it is no more than a pile of sand that the least jolt”
Émile Durkheim (1903/1961, p. 102); Quoted in: Kenneth Allan (2012). Explorations in Classical Sociological Theory: Seeing the Social World: Seeing the Social World p. 151 -
“It is not human nature which can assign the variable limits necessary to our needs. They are thus unlimited so far as they depend on the individual alone. Irrespective of any external regulatory force, our capacity for feeling is in itself an insatiable and bottomless abyss.”
Suicide: A Study in Sociology(1897)
Emile Durkheim on Politics
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Attributed to Emile Durkheim:
“Society is not a mere sum of individuals; rather, the system formed by their association represents a specific reality which has its own characteristics.”
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Attributed to Emile Durkheim:
“Man cannot become attached to higher aims and submit to a rule if he sees nothing above him to which he belongs.”
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“Men already had ideas on law, morality, the family, the state, and society itself before the advent of social science, for these ideas were necessary conditions of his life”
The Rules of Sociological Method,1895 | p. 14 -
“Methodological rules are for science what rules of law and custom are for conduct.”
The Division of Labor in Society(1893) | p. 364 -
“Once the generality of the phenomenon has been established, one can, by showing its utility, confirm the results of the first method. We may, therefore, formulate the three following rules:”
The Rules of Sociological Method,1895 -
“To pursue a goal which is by definition unattainable is too condemn oneself to a state of perpetual unhappiness.”
Suicide: A Study in Sociology(1897)
Emile Durkheim on Time
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“Émile Durkheim, Debate on Explanation in History and Sociology (1908).”
There is no sociology worthy of the name which does not possess a historical character.
Emile Durkheim on Truth
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“Everybody knows that we like those who resemble us, those who think and feel as we do. But the opposite is no less true. It very often happens that we feel kindly towards those who do not resemble us, precisely because of this lack of resemblance.”
The Division of Labor in Society(1893) | p. 54
Emile Durkheim on Virtue
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Attributed to Emile Durkheim:
“It is from public opinion that the moral order receives its sanction.”
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“Every society is a moral society. In certain respects, this character is even more pronounced in organised societies. Because the individual is not sufficient unto himself, it is from society that he receives everything necessary to him, as it is for society that he works.”
The Division of Labor in Society(1893) | p. 228