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👨‍🏫 Émile Durkheim: Social Facts & Scientific Sociology

Durkheim — often regarded as the founding father of sociology — established that sociology is a distinct and systematic science.

His landmark work, The Rules of Sociological Method, introduces the foundational concept of Social Facts.

🔹 What are Social Facts?

“Ways of acting, thinking, and feeling, external to the individual and coercive in nature.” — Durkheim

They are not individual or biological traits but collective social forces that shape and constrain individual behavior.

🔑 Key Features of Social Facts:

• Externality – Exist outside the individual (e.g., law, customs)
• Coercion – Exert constraint through social pressure (e.g., norms)
• Generality – Common across members of a society
• Objectivity – Measurable through empirical indicators (e.g., crime rate)
• Normativity – Come with obligations or expectations
• Independent Existence – Cannot be reduced to psychology or biology

📌 Examples of Social Facts:

• ✅ Language