Durkheimian Studies

References to Durkheim in Jewish periodicals and newspapers are hard to find. We are grateful to the late Etienne Halphen for having drawn our attention to two such items, which relate to the death of Durkheim. Both of them allude to Durkheim’s work on behalf of Russian Jews during the War. Reference might therefore be made to two letters on the issue, by Durkheim himself and by A. Lévy, the Grand Rabbi of France, discovered by Jennifer Mergy and published with an introduction and notes by her in Durkheimian Studies / Etudes durkheimiennes, 2000, n.s. 6: 1–4.

The Society for Social Research held its regular meeting on the evening of 6 February, President Stuart Rice in the chair.

Mr. Herbert Blumer of the Department of Sociology, University of Chicago spoke to the group on ‘Some Impressions of Contemporary French Sociology’. The following is a digest of his paper.

Le premier chapitre du livre III du Suicide, ‘L’élément social du suicide’ (incontestablement le coeur de l’ouvrage selon son auteur), commence par le résumé de l’explication qu’Émile Durkheim vient de donner (dans le livre II) des régularités du phénomène dont il s’occupe. Ce résumé est suivi d’une digression sur Adolphe Quetelet et son oeuvre à laquelle le lecteur averti (contemporain de Durkheim) s’attend depuis déjà plusieurs pages.

L'œuvre de Durkheim permet de recenser différents ensembles d'activités cohérentes : le jeu au sens large, prédilection d'une longue tradition philosophique les jeux récréatifs, envisagés principalement dans les sociétés primitives ; les sports de compétition, notamment d'équipe ; l'éducation physique ; la participation associative, notamment estudiantine ou péri-scolaire. Des auteurs, qui sont identifiés comme appartenant à l'École durkheimienne, abordent eux aussi les thèmes liés du jeu et du sport. Il s'agit, d'une manière particulière, de Célestin Bouglé, Charles Lalo, Marcel Mauss et du 'médecin capitaine J. Escalier'. La présente étude porte sur cet intérêt, au demeurant mal connu, de Durkheim et de son groupe.

Among the many theories of socialization, that of Durkheim stands out. While most analyses of socialization are individualistic, that of Durkheim is holistic. This singularity presents a challenge to the modern mind, which is dominated by individualism. Reading Durkheim's analysis of socialization, like the rest of his work, requires the difficult task of overcoming one's natural tendency to do so through an individualistic lens. This paper is an attempt to restore the original holistic meaning of this analysis. It aims to correct some of Durkheim's commentators' re-interpretations of his views and the everyday language that he uses in individualistic terms. Particular attention is given to Durkheim's distinction between authority and power. This distinction has huge implications for Durkheim's interpretation of socialization, which he sees as a process that primarily involves a particular relationship - one that he describes in terms of 'submission' - with the authority of society.

This article attempts to record and examine the way that Catholic and Protestant thinkers reacted to Durkheim's work. The bulk, but by no means all, of their reflections relate to religion, especially after the publication of Les formes élémentaires. Surprisingly, there were some who praised Durkheim for his clarity and imagination. The specific aspects of his work dealt with here are: the nature of religion, its definition, the role of the social and individual, the nature of God, effervescent gatherings. In relation to these, and other topics, the writings of Catholics such as Besse, Bureau, Deploige, Lemonnyer, and Protestants, Boegner, Bois, Richard, Paul Sabatier, are considered. One conclusion is that, surprisingly or otherwise, the substantial criticisms of Durkheim are similar to both Catholics and Protestants. Another is that this kind of material is a necessary prelude to the study of the later development of the sociology of religion in France.

Marcel Fournier, Emile Durkheim (1858–1917), Paris: Fayard, 2007, pp. 940.

Marie-Claude Blais, La solidarité. Histoire d’une idée, Paris : Gallimard, 2007, pp. 352.

Serge Paugam (sous la direction de), Repenser la solidarité. L’apport des sciences sociales, Paris : Presses Universitaires de France, 2007, pp. 982.

Marcel Mauss, Manual of Ethnography, edited by N. J. Allen, translated by D. Lussier, Oxford and New York: Durkheim Press/Berghahn Press, 2007, pp. 212.

Marcel Mauss, Techniques, Technology and Civilisation, edited and introduced by Nathan Schlanger, New York and Oxford, Durkheim Press/ Berghahn Books, 2006, pp. 178.

Marcel Mauss, Essai sur le don. Forme et raison de l’échange dans les sociétés archaïques, introduction de Florence Weber, Paris: Quadrige/ Presses Universitaires de France, [1925] 2007.

Louise Child, Tantric Buddhism and Altered States of Consciousness: Durkheim, Emotional Energy and Visions of the Consort, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007, pp. vii, 197.

James Dingley, Nationalism, Social Theory and Durkheim, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, pp. 221.