"Karen Fields has given us a splendid new translation of the greatest work of sociology ever written, one we will not be embarrassed to assign to our students. In addition she has written a brilliant and profound introduction. The publication of this translation is an occasion for general celebration, for a veritable 'collective effervescence.'
-- Robert N. Bellah Co-author of Habits of the Heart, and editor of Emile Durkheim on Morality and Society
"This superb new translation finally allows non-French speaking American readers fully to appreciate...

Emile Durkheim and Marcel Mauss maintain that society is the source of the very categories of human thought. First published in the "Annee Sociologique" in 1903, this classic essay has been translated by Rodney Needham, who also provides a critical introduction.
" "Primitive Classification"] will impress the reader with its quiet elegance, its direct, logical form, its clarity of style, its spirit of careful, yet bold, exploration." Harry Alpert, "American Journal of Sociology "
"Particularly instructive for anyone who wonders what social anthropology is: how, if at all, it differs...

Emile Durkheim is best known in this country as a great sociologist and methodologist. Yet it was Durkheim's reflections on morality and society that spoke most deeply of his vital concerns. In his informative introduction to this work, Robert N. Bellah describes Durkheim as moralist, philosopher, theologian, and prophet, as well as sociologist, and the selections in this volume are representative of these aspects of Durkheim's many-faceted scholarship.

The first two selections of the volume set the context for the development of Durkheim's sociology of morality. Section I, "The French...

Ranging from Durkheim's original lecture in sociology to an excerpt from the work incomplete at his death, these selections illuminate his multiple approaches to the crucial concept of social solidarity and the study of institutions as diverse as the law, morality, and the family.

Emile Durkheim is regarded as a founding father of sociology, and is studied in all basic sociology courses. There is, however, a distinct lack of a handy textbook to provide a satisfactory collection of the key passages from Durkheim's work. Kenneth Thompson makes good that gap in the literature, providing a collection of modern and reliable translations from the sociologist's major works, De la division du travail social (1893), Les regales de la methode sociologique (1895), Le suicide (1897) and Les formes elementaires de la vie religieuse (1912). The text, a useful reference with in-depth...

Emile Durkheim is regarded as a founding father of sociology, and is studied in all basic sociology courses. There is, however, a distinct lack of a handy textbook to provide a satisfactory collection of the key passages from Durkheim's work. Kenneth Thompson makes good that gap in the literature, providing a collection of modern and reliable translations from the sociologist's major works, De la division du travail social (1893), Les regales de la methode sociologique (1895), Le suicide (1897) and Les formes elementaires de la vie religieuse (1912). The text, a useful reference with in-depth...

The great French sociologist and philosopher Emile Durkheim is best known for his classic book Suicide (1897), a landmark in social psychology. Among his other major works is this study in the sociology of education, which features 18 lectures by an influential theorist who discusses his ideas on the school as the appropriate setting for moral education. The first element in developing a moral being, he maintains, is instilling a sense of discipline, followed by a willingness to behave in terms of the group's collective interest, and a sense of autonomy. Durkheim also examines...

Emile Durkheim, the founder of French sociology, introduces secondary school students to the field of philosophy in this series of lectures. He pursues topics as diverse as philosophical psychology, logic, ethics, and metaphysics, in the course of attempting to articulate a unified philosophical position. Intellectual historians, historically-minded philosophers, and French historians will find the lectures a valuable historical document.

A classic book about the phenomenon of suicide and its social causes written by one of the world's most influential sociologists.

Emile Durkheim's Suicide addresses the phenomenon of suicide and its social causes. Written by one of the world's most influential sociologists, this classic argues that suicide primarily results from a lack of integration of the individual into society. Suicide provides readers with an understanding of the impetus for suicide and its psychological impact on the victim, family, and society.