Practice question · Select all that apply
Durkheim defined a social fact by three properties. Which of the following are those properties, as set out in The Rules of Sociological Method?
Hints
- Three of these describe a constraint the individual meets; one describes a decision the individual makes.
- If a social fact had to be chosen, Durkheim’s whole argument against psychological explanation would collapse.
Show the answer
- A. It is general across the group, independently of its individual manifestations
- B. It exists outside the individual consciousness
- C. It exerts a coercive power over the individual
Why
Externality, constraint and generality are the three tests. The fourth would make social facts the sum of individual preferences, which is exactly the position Durkheim wrote the book to refuse: a language, a currency and a marriage law are none of them chosen by their users, and all three push back when ignored.
Practise The European Consolidation: Durkheim, Weber and Tönnies
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