Durkheim

) Durkheim believed religion was sociology of knowledge .He said religion was the one thing that would keep society in order. He thought humans behaved like animals and they needed some rule to follow in order for society to be good. He suggests that religion always involve a distinction between things that are sacred and things that are profane.

Durkheim believed that religion was responsible for keeping society together through conscious collectives. He was worried that if traditional religion were no longer practiced there’d be a nomie. Durkheim was not concerned with the individuals inchurch but the community coming together the good of the whole in one meeting places (churches).

At these meeting places, groups would partake in various traditions and rituals as a group.”Durkheim’s four major functions of religion are disciplinary, cohesive, vitalizing, and euphoric social forces”. (Masters of sociological thought. Coser). Religion was said to be disciplinary because it was said to give order and prepare us for the future. Religious ceremonies brought the community to one place to share our experience and common love or obedience for our god. The members worship together and learn from each other. The members gain a sense of belonging to the group and they feel alive. They feel good about coming together for the greater good. The members help each other and religion help to maintain the faith and keep the feeling of a well being.

1) One of Durkheim’s major contributions was to help define and establish the field of sociology as an academic discipline. Durkheim distinguished sociology from philosophy, psychology, economics and other social science disciplines by arguing that sociologists should study particular features of collective or group life. This is the study of social facts, things that are external to, and coercive of, individuals. These social facts are features of the group, and cannot be studied apart from the collective, nor can they be derived from the study of individuals. Some examples are religion, urban structures, legal systems, and moral values such as family values. Durkheim argued that these are features of collective existence, which are not reducible to features of the atoms, individuals, which make it up. Durkheim was interested in reconciling freedom. He brought up the idea of collective consciousness, which was the foundation of community that existed outside the individual and above. He came up with the theory of religion and studied suicide. He believed in social order and thought men were never satisfied they needed a higher being to get rule and order to make the society run smoothly.

Compte major contribution was the coining of the word sociology .He took sociology and turned it into a science which would study groups of people .He went about this using methodology, Laws of human progress, Social status and dynamics and division of labor. Comte said there was no science without theory. Theory was guidance.he also said we should use social facts, which was data based on observation.

2) Durkheims’ concept of division of labor included the fact that there should be social change and the idea that there is bigger and more powerful than” the individual”. Division of labor is about autonomy. Each of us develops our own desired skill to work individually. We would work individually towards a group effort. There would be a collective consciousness or foundation of community. It would exist outside of the individual and above. There would be individual participation but it’s a group phenomenon. Collective consciousness determines how we legislate and how we live in our society. “Durkheim saw that without one another in a highly specialized society, no one