Émile Durkheim asserted that society is a force that exists independently of the people in it but determine what the individual does. He also argues that society is a system of interrelated parts – social facts, which are defined as the norms, values, and structures of a society, and where no one part can function without the other. He explains how society can get swept up by social currents that can lead people to act contrary to their nature. Durkheim placed importance on studying society with the methods used by the natural sciences which is significant for contemporary society as all social public policy and government programs are influenced by evidence based research. Durkheim is also relevant today because his emphasis on a moral code and the need for restraint is crucial for a world dominated by global inequality.
Central to Durkheim’s argument is his theory of social facts. Social facts are what hold society and social groups together. With regards to social facts, Durkheim defined them as follows: “A social fact is every way of acting, fixed or not, capable of exercising on the individual an external constraint; or again, every way of acting which is general throughout a given society, while at the same time existing in its own right independent of its individual manifestations.” (Durkheim 1895, p. 59) Social facts include religion, culture, government, the economy, education, beliefs, morals, values, goals and everything that holds a society together and allows everyone to interact. People may think that they are individuals and that they can decide for themselves which course of action to take in any given situation, however Durkheim asserts that we are all governed by social facts and these forces in society guide or determine our thinking, our decisions and our actions. (Durkheim 1895, p. ??) The power and hold that these social facts have over us is demonstrated each time someone chooses to disobey or act contrary to social conventions and expectations. (Durkheim 1895, p. ??) There are consequences, punishments, disapproval and isolation. Durkheim’s ideas resonate with reality in the sense that the way people behave, or what they say, and the opinions they form about everyday ideals become based on the way it is portrayed or taught by society. Often this is through the media, everyday life surroundings, how their families have brought them up, how they are educated at school or how their peers influence them. If they do not conform, then there is discomfort or tension. For example, if someone were to choose not to have the same religious values as their family, they would perhaps come into conflict with them. If someone disowned their culture then they would perhaps feel lost. If someone chose not to have an education, then they would risk losing choices, privileges. Social facts are what hold society and social groups together because they make up the parts of our life and dictate how we live.
A particular point of interest with Durkheim and which is also relevant in our contemporary world is his theory of social currents and how they are almost impossible to resist. Sometimes, and under certain conditions, social forces are so overpowering that people are swept up in a “social current” and may do things that are contrary to their nature. Acts of atrocity are possible by ordinary, decent human beings in a crowd dynamic. A relevant recent example in history is the rise of Nazism during World War II. Ordinary German citizens became mesmerised by Hitler’s oratory – who was adept at exploiting crowd psychology – and either participated in or turned a blind eye to the holocaust. More recently, here in Sydney with the Cronulla Riots a small gathering soon turned into one of Australia’s most horrifying incident. The Cronulla Riots were a series of clashes and outbreaks of violence in Cronulla between Lebanese Australians and Anglo-Australians that spread, over the next few nights, to additional suburbs. The Cronulla riots were interesting as the medium for the crowd dynamic was mobile texting, which influenced the speed with which tensions grew. Mobile texting also played a significant role in the Arab Spring events, which led to the mobilisation of huge crowds in a short space of time and allowed people who were normally divided culturally, and politically to unite and to bring down governments. These examples highlight the relevance of Durkheim’s theory of social currents and how they become impossible to resist.
Durkheim is also relevant today because he established sociology as a science more than other sociologists and distinguished it from psychology and philosophy. (Edles & Appelrouth 2008) Durkheim was particularly interested in studying social facts according to the same methods and the same rigorous process that other natural sciences are studied. “Sociology is, then, not an auxiliary of any other science; it is itself a distinct and autonomous science”. (Durkheim 1895 p. ??) Therefore, there is an emphasis on the scientific method, the collation of data, the importance of statistics, and the analysis of patterns to give an accurate account of what is happening in our society and which has become crucial in contemporary society in the formulation of public policy and social government programs. (Edles & Appelrouth 2008) The idea that we study society as a science and the notion that we view society as a system of interrelated parts is similar to other sociologists like Auguste Comte and Spencer, but what Durkheim emphasises in contrast to these and others like Marx is a moral code and obligation to others which ties the different individuals in society together. (Edles & Appelrouth 2008) This moral code allows individuals to exercise restraint and prevents selfish pursuit of interest, which destroys society. This moral code means that bodies and organisations in society are organised by corporations, which are made up of both managers and workers and which ensure that the organisation is regulated ethically and fairly for all. Brooks (2010) uses the recent world wide economic crisis that originated from high risk and often-unethical lending practises of the US lending companies and banks to assess the relevance of Durkheim’s sociological theories in the contemporary world. He shows how “for Durkheim, the economic sphere of society was in constant crisis, due in part to a lack of economic professional ethics, leading to the generation of anomie both at the societal and individual level”. Durkheim with his moral code avoids the extremes of Marxism and of Capitalism and is therefore relevant for those countries interested in developing democracies. “There is a clear balancing act for Durkheim between a state which is present enough in individuals’ lives to allow for these civic morals to spread, but also one which does not become too present, a balance which is struck especially well in a democracy. This is a system through which the government representations are linked to the ‘mass of individual consciousness’, with each one able to temper, but not swallow, the other”. (Dawson 2013, p. 83-84, cited in Durkheim 1992, p. 82–88)
Durkheim’s emphasis on studying social facts, producing relevant, evidence based data, recognising the force of social facts over all our thoughts and actions and viewing society as interrelated and interdependent is relevant for contemporary society. His emphasis on a moral code is not just relevant but is also helpful in our world today, which is dominated by global inequality and the problems of war, poverty, and terrorism that associated with this inequality. It will ensure the necessary restraint to create fairness and equality and will also avoid ideological extremes, which in themselves create more problems.