1. BY: AMISHA, ANEEQA, EUNJI and MAYA
EMILE DURKHEIM
BY: AMISHA, ANEEQA, EUNJI and MAYA

2. BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
He was born on April 15th 1858, in the town of Epinal, France.
He was the first French academic sociologists and is considered by many to be the father of Sociology.
He became interested in a scientific approach to society very early on in his career.
He graduated with a degree in Philosophy, in 1882.
In , he taught Philosophy at several provincial schools and also studied sociology for 2 years.
Other publishing 3 major works, he achieved his goal of attaining a prominent position in Paris.
In 1912, he published his last major work, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, a Book that Analyzes Religion as a Social Phenomena.
He died on November 15th 1917 at the age of 59.

3. EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
He went to the schools: “Lycee Louis le-Grand” “University Of Leipzig” “Ecole Normale Superierure”:
He skipped 2 years of college.
He wanted to become a teacher.
He went to the college at Epinal and left for Paris to prepare for admission to the prestigious Ecole Normale Superieure.
He failed his first 2 attempts to get into Ecole ( )
Hw was finally admitted into Ecole 1879.
He began teaching Philosophy in 1882.

4. RESEARCH HISTORY
He was greatly influenced by philosopher Auguste Comte and believed that ethical and moral structures were endangered by technology and mechanization.
Became interested in a scientific approach to society early in his career.
He found humanistic studies boring, so he switched his focus from psychology and philosophy to ethics and sociology.

5. CONTRIBUTIONS TO SOCIOLOGY
1st sociologist to systematically apply the methods of Science to the study of society.
He believed that shared beliefs and values were the glue that held society together.
Responsible for getting sociology recognized as a separate discipline.
He was interested in studying how social forces shape individual behavior.
Collective mind of society was the source of religion and morality.
Studied suicide to show the loss of morale that accompanies decline in social identity.
He wrote a book about how suicide has to do with sociology.
Wrote many books about sociology and social life.

6. HALL OF FAME….?
He wrote The Division of Labor, The Rules of Sociological method, Suicide and The Elementary Forms of Religious Life.
He showed that social factors exert a fundamental influence on suicidal behavior.
He was an influential figure in western sociology and philosophy.
Identified 2 types of groups: 1)Mechanical- individuals are very alike (dependent) 2) Organic- Individuals are very different (independent)
Founder of the Functional Theory which interprets each part of society by how it contributes to society as a whole.
He defined Anomie as a lack of clear social norms.

7. SOMETHING INTERESTING
He was of Jewish parentage, and some of his forebears were rabbis.
He was agnostic.
Founder of "Annee Sociologique," the first Social Science Journal in France.
Spent his early years in a rabbinical school.
Founder of the first European University department of Sociology.