The Rules of Sociological Method: And Selected Texts on Sociology and its Method

by Emile Durkheim, Steven Lukes (With)

Overview

Revised for the first time in over thirty years, this edition of Emile Durkheim’s masterful work on the nature and scope of sociology is updated with a new introduction and improved translation by leading scholar Steven Lukes that puts Durkheim’s work into context for the twenty-first century reader.

The Rules of Sociological Method represents Emile Durkheim’s manifesto for sociology. He argues forcefully for the objective, scientific, and methodological underpinnings of sociology as a discipline and establishes guiding principles for future research.

The substantial new introduction by leading Durkheim scholar Steven Lukes explains and sets into context Durkheim’s arguments. Lukes examines the still-controversial debates about The Rules of Sociological Method’s six chapters and explains their relevance to present-day sociology. The edition also includes Durkheim’s subsequent thoughts on method in the form of articles, debates with scholars from other disciplines, and letters. The original translation has been revised and reworked in order to make Durkheim’s arguments clearer and easier to read.

This is an essential resource for students and scholars hoping to deepen their understanding of one of the pioneering voices in modern sociology and twentieth-century social thought.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781439118375
Publisher:	Free Press
Publication date:	02/25/2014
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	604,401
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Emile Durkheim (1858–1917) was a French sociologist who formally established the academic discipline and, with Karl Marx and Max Weber, is commonly cited as the principal architect of modern social science.

Steve Lukes is a professor of sociology at New York University. An emeritus Fellow of the British Academy and an editor of the European Journal of Sociology, he is the author of Emile Durkheim: His Life and Work and, most recently, Moral Relativism.

Table of Contents

Preface to This Edition Steven Lukes vii

Introduction to This Edition Steven Lukes xi

Emile Durkheim's Life and Works: Timeline 1858-1917 xxxvi

Suggestions for Further Reading xl

Original Translator's Note xlii

The Rules of Sociological Method Emile Durkheim

Preface to the First Edition (1895) 3

Preface to the Second Edition (1901) 6

Introduction 18

Chapter I What Is a Social Fact? 20

Chapter II Rules for the Observation of Social Facts 29

Chapter III Rules for the Distinction of the Normal from the Pathological 50

Chapter IV Rules for the Constitution of Social Types 69

Chapter V Rules for the Explanation of Social Facts 78

Chapter VI Rules for the Demonstration of Sociological Proof 101

Conclusion 111

Original Table of Contents 115

Subsequent Writings of Emile Durkheim on Sociology and Its Method

Marxism and Sociology: The Materialist Conception of History (1897) 123

Sociology and the Social Sciences (1903) 130

Debate on the Relationship Between Ethnology and Sociology (1907) 158

Debate on Explanation in History and Sociology (1908) 160

Debate on Political Economy and Sociology (1908) 174

The Contribution of Sociology to Psychology and Philosophy (1909) 180

Notes on

Social Morphology (1899) 184

Civilization in General and Types of Civilization (1902) 186

The Method of Sociology (1908) 187

Society (1917) 190

Letters about

The Psychological Character of Social Facts and Their Reality (1895) 191

The Nature of Society and Causal Explanation (1898) 193

The Psychological Conception of Society (1901) 195

The Role of General Sociology (1905) 196

Influences upon Durkheim's View of Sociology (1907) 197

Index 201

Editorial Reviews

"With this improved and expanded edition, The Rules of a Sociological Method, has finally been given the scholarly treatment it deserves. And the Editor's Introduction—written with Steven Lukes's usual flair and erudition—provides an essential guide to the book's original historical context as well as to its lasting sociological importance."

New York University - David Garland