Durkheims

Durkheims is not a widely recognized term in sociology or related disciplines. In most scholarly writing, the intended reference is either the possessive form "Durkheim's" when attributes ideas or research to the French sociologist Émile Durkheim, or the plural form used for people bearing the surname Durkheim. The adjective commonly used is "Durkheimian," and the field habitually refers to "Durkheimian sociology" or "Durkheim's theory of social facts."

Émile Durkheim (1858–1917) was a French sociologist who helped establish sociology as an academic discipline. He argued that societies are characterized by social facts—external, constraining forces that shape individual behavior. He emphasized collective norms, institutions, and the division of labor as sources of social solidarity.

Durkheim's work on suicide, religion, and education advanced a program of empirical, systematic study of social life. His approach contrasted with individualist explanations and influenced later functionalist theories, structural sociology, and anthropological inquiry. Central concepts include the collective conscience, mechanical and organic solidarity, and the role of social regulation in modern societies.

In contemporary usage, the term Durkheims is rarely employed as a stand-alone concept. When referring to his ideas, writers generally use "Durkheim's" or "Durkheimian" to denote theories derived from Émile Durkheim's work.