Emile Durkheim Biography
Émile Durkheim was a famous French philosopher and sociologist. This biography profiles his childhood, career, works, achievements, trivia and timeline. Quick Facts
ALSO LISTED IN Sociologists, Philosophers
ALSO KNOWN AS Emile Durkheim, David Émile Durkheim, Durkheim
FAMOUS AS Sociologist & Philosopher
NATIONALITY French Famous French Men
RELIGION Agnosticism
BORN ON 15 April 1858 AD
BIRTHDAY 15th April Famous 15th April Birthdays
DIED AT AGE 59
SUN SIGN Aries Aries Men
BORN IN Épinal
DIED ON 15 November 1917 AD
PLACE OF DEATH Paris
SPOUSE: Louise Dreyfus
CHILDREN Marie Durkheim, Andre Durkheim
EDUCATION Lycée Louis-le-Grand
École Normale Supérieure
Leipzig University
FOUNDER/CO-FOUNDER Modern Sociology

Emile Durkheim
David Émile Durkheim is regarded as the principal architect of modern social science and father of sociology. Born into a family of a long line of rabbis, he broke away from the Jewish tradition and produced many secular works. His first major sociological work, ‘The Division of Labor in Society’, discussed how modern society is held together by a division of labor that makes individuals dependent upon one another. In ‘Rules of the Sociological Method’, he put forward the need for scientific approach in the study of sociology, a revolutionary thought in that period of time. He set up the first European department of sociology and became France's first professor of sociology and also established the journal L'Année Sociologique. His monograph ‘Suicide’, a study of suicide rates in Catholic and Protestant populations, elevated sociology to the status of science. In his ‘The Elementary Forms of Religious Life’, he presented a theory of religion, comparing the social and cultural lives of aboriginal and modern societies. He also expressed his views on individualism, differentiating between