Relevance of Durkheim's Social Fact for Contemporary Anthropology

This essay delves into Emile Durkheim's concept of "social facts" and its continuing relevance in contemporary anthropology. It begins by defining social facts as external cultural norms, values, and social structures that exert control over individuals, as outlined by Durkheim. The essay then explores how Durkheim's ideas, such as the classification of social facts into material and controlling aspects, provide a framework for understanding societal phenomena. The paper highlights the importance of Durkheim's work in differentiating the social from biological and psychological aspects of individuals, and how his focus on the functions and causes of social order remains vital. The essay also discusses the complexities of applying Durkheim's concepts in contemporary anthropology, considering the roles of ethnography, post-truth environments, and the influence of power dynamics. It acknowledges the limitations of solely relying on social facts, especially in the context of alternative facts and societal contestations, and argues for the need to consider a more nuanced approach that accounts for individual agency and political influences. The analysis includes Durkheim's positivist approach to studying social issues scientifically and his views on social regulation and integration, while also addressing the manipulation of data and the existence of multiple realities beyond the constraints of social facts. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of challenging objectivity to investigate social realities and the need to study political discourses and power relations in the contemporary age.

Running head: Sociology
Anthropology
Name of the Student:
Name of University:
Author Note

2
SOCIOLOGY
Social facts can be defined as the cultural norms, values and social structures which goes
beyond the limit of human beings while it also control them. Emile Durkheim, the French
Sociologist described the term in order to put emphasis on how it should be understood for
studying sociology and also has relevance to anthropology in the contemporary times. Durkheim
claimed that a group of phenomena within a society can be studied independent of each other,
which include the various activities people engage in, within the society. These phenomena are
laws, morals, beliefs and culture, which can be broadly be classified as the social facts (Fish,
2017). The thesis of this paper is to focus on Emile Durkheim’s Social facts and discuss
relevance of the same, with contemporary Anthropology.
According to Durkheim, social facts can be classified into two ways, the first is the way
in which social facts are external to any individual, which is also known as the material facts,
while, on the other hand, is the second one, in which social facts exert control over the
individuals as they behave in a certain way or the material facts (Fish, 2017). The second can be
regarded as laws, which make people behave in certain manner, deviance from which may lead
to penalty or undesired outcomes. Social facts, is a very important aspect of Durkheim’s work, in
which, the sociologist sought to identify a distinct role of the social, apart from biological and
psychological aspects of individuals. Durkheim found out that social facts are deeply rooted
within the society, its values and morals, which do not impact the basics of responses such as
sleeping or eating, as they are biological processes. Durkheim intended to find out about their
functions and causes and how they operate to create a control and maintain social order within
the society.
In Anthropological terms, facts and truths have always been complicated to explore,
especially because of ethnography. In contemporary times of post truth, a shared understanding

3
SOCIOLOGY
of anthropological approach helps in the understanding of society, power, politics and truth,
which enable to look at the present hierarchy and functioning of the society (Epstein, 2017).
Durkheim’s concept of social facts is of great importance, as it allows an exploration which can
be multifaceted. Social Facts has thus helped to study concepts such as space, time, ideology and
values.
Durkheim’s concept aimed to study the collective practices and believes which gave rise
to common sense and shape institutions, which exerted social control (Durkheim, 2014).
Durkheim intended to look at social facts as things, however, what was intended is the
objectivity of things but not the materiality. Durkheim tended to look at economic crises to
suicidal attempts by using social facts to study the scenario, which may as well be contradictory
while evaluating complex problems of the contemporary society and its individuals. The
discourse of social facts, as was stated by Durkheim is far too normative, for the modern world.
Society has intense social contestation and thus, also face societal tests which are formed by
cultural values, worldviews which may either lead to coercion or to cohesion. While exploring
current scenarios by deploying concepts of Durkheim, it is to be remembered there also exists
alternative facts, which can also contest for social facts.
Social facts are very important for analyzing authority, hierarchy and interests which
shape how people develop idea and knowledge and therefore, also to have a sense of solidarity.
Truth and facts, are therefore, complex in the contemporary times, and in the field of
anthropology while considering authority and interests of public. Social facts, according to
Durkheim does not offer a distinction between facts and alternative facts. Thus, it does not offer
accuracy over adjudications and contestations in politics. The contemporary society has

4
SOCIOLOGY
necessitated to look beyond social facts and constructionism in order to understand how truths
are shaped by politics and power. It is also to be noted that not every fact is validated.
Durkheim insisted that social facts are results of the collectiveness of individuals in a
society and cannot be streamlined into the individuals who are part of the society. He means that
social reality, thus is real which is beyond the individual, which is studied by sociology. This is
similar to the idea that human life is beyond people and cells which constitute it. He, thus
emphasizes the study no never be reduced to the level of individuals rather be ahead which aims
to study social facts as a relation arise out of social actions. He also strived to analyze suicides,
economic growth, divorces, and religion through social facts, which he later classified as social
regulation and integration- the two variables (Durkheim, 2014). Through this process of analysis,
he aimed to suggest that study of the society and its problems should be scientific in nature
above individuals. This is also known as the positivist approach.
However, the major issue with respect to contemporary anthropology and study of
society is that what is regarded as social facts are often manipulated by various factors. For
example, the statistics which are used in the process of evaluation of social facts are often
manipulated by people who record or assess such events. This leaves out great potential of
miscalculation, misinterpretation and discrepancies in the records. This applies to a diverse range
of statistics which are followed to take into account in anthropology and study of people
(Rafanell, 2016). This suggests that there exists a social world, truths and facts which is external
to the individual. Social facts, thus might be limiting in nature to study the certainties and how
they interact with each other, within the society.
Durkheim’s concept of social fact, may have relevance in anthropology in the
contemporary times, but gets increasingly weakened by what lies beyond the constraints of social

5
SOCIOLOGY
facts. Social reality, thus is beyond what is suggested through one and absolute external reality
within which individuals are constrained (Mestrovic, 2017). There exist multitude of realities
which are results of social interaction and diverse range of social phenomena which happen
within the society. The values, norms and beliefs which give rise to social facts are not absolute
and real to become facts, as there exists contrasting realities too (Rafanell, 2016). One can be
regarded as real only by thinking it to be read Durkheim’s concept has a positivist method which
do not allow analysis and evaluation of social problems at the level of individuals but at the level
of society, created a generalization often, which makes nuances which do not conform go
unnoticed. Society is a constraining factor, in various subtle ways, which modern anthropologists
aim to lay emphasis on, while assessing a problem.
Durkheim, claimed that society, as a whole is beyond individuals which bear social facts
such as hierarchy, institutions which control individuals based on the relationships shared by
them, with the social facts. This created a disparity as it does not look at modern issues and
modern society along with the complexities which lie within. Individualism, the contemporary
times have increased and provided basis for several moral principles. Durkheim, thus allow no
independence to the independence to the study of individuals in the society. Anthropologists, in
the contemporary times emphasize on the need to study political discourses which give rise to
unequal and uneven power relations. In the age of inequality, it is very important to challenge
objectivity in order to investigate what constitute of social facts and societal realities. What
becomes powerful truths are to be examined in order to answer the important questions.

6
SOCIOLOGY
References
Durkheim, É. (2014). Émile Durkheim. Religion, 2, 1.
Durkheim, E. (2014). The rules of sociological method: and selected texts on sociology and its
method. Simon and Schuster.
Epstein, B. (2017). Social Construction and Social Facts. In The Routledge Handbook of
Collective Intentionality (pp. 265-276). Routledge.
Fish, J. S. (2017). Defending the Durkheimian tradition: Religion, emotion and morality.
Routledge.
Mestrovic, S. (Ed.). (2017). Durkheim and postmodern culture. Routledge.
Rafanell, I. (2016). Durkheim’s Social Facts and the Performative Model: Reconsidering the
Objective Nature of Social Phenomena. In Sociological Objects (pp. 59-76). Routledge.
Riley, A. (2014). The social thought of Emile Durkheim. Sage Publications.