Society and sociology have a number of differing definitions, particularly as they relate to sociology as the study of society. Social theorists like Emile Durkheim and Georg Simmel saw society in different ways, with Simmel seeing society as a far more basic assemblage of human interactions, while Durkheim revolves his sense of society around the establishment of an objective world of society that is present regardless of the level of interaction of its subjects. However, both of these theorists explore the relationship between society and sociology, Simmel in particular views sociology as a means of examining the interaction between content and form. Society is shown to be a collection of interactions between people, and sociology is the study and analysis of this collective phenomena. Judging from the theories of both Simmel and Durkheim, theories of sociology are shown to be uniquely divided between the ‘facts’ of Durkheim and a more form-based approach by Simmel, offering a dichotomy between the objective and subjective in the study of society.
In order to understand sociology, society as a concept must itself be defined. Emile Durkheim’s study of society and social theory revolves around the establishment of a social consciousness that exists regardless of the individual’s recognition of its existence. Individuals are often unaware of this external fact of society, and so are affected regardless of the extent to which they participate in it. In many ways, this is explicitly related to the division of labor, in which members of a society are gauged largely by their contribution of product and labor to said society. Central to this concept is “social solidarity,” in which individuals are bound in a sense of kinship, where they are willing to do things for each other in order to elevate the society as a whole (Durkheim, 1984). This relates to the conscience collective, where people uniformly join together to contribute to actions and initiatives that help everyone, and punish criminals for engaging in acts that disrupt the harmony of a society.
However, Durkheim’s focus is often on the perversion of that solidarity and the division of labor, typically by capitalist interests. According to Durkheim (1984), “the division of labour cannot be carried out save between the members of a society already constituted” (p. 217). As the rich begin to enjoy more of the fruits of society’s labor while contributing less to it and vice versa, the poor can grow resentful of the rich for taking their wealth that they themselves contributed, and not getting anything back. This disrupts the conscience collective, as people place a greater focus on individualism and erodes the bonds of solidarity. People become separated by the tension of competition, as people are forced to work against each other for resources and social capital, fighting for the highest position in a strong division of labor. This can eventually lead to class struggle, and ultimately revolution, in which the poor take back leadership and ownership of a society through often-violent uprising.
At the same time, Durkheim (1984) believes that community in society must take place between a group of individuals that have both material and moral ties to one another. This is part and parcel of his examinination of society as a series of facts that exist and relate to the world regardless of participation by individuals. Durkheim believed that social facts (actions that are taken by individuals as part of an interactive set of obligations to others) should be treated as ‘things,’ which are just as tangible as any sort of natural observations and facts found by more established scientific fields of the time (Durkheim, 1966). However, rather than confusing them with biological or psychological phenomena, they are meant to be ‘social,’ as “their source is not in the individual, their substratum can be no other than society” (Durkheim 1966, p. 3).
While Durkheim’s approach to society is to view it through the relationship of people and the labor they contribute to each other, Simmel’s (1980) approach is much more open-ended and straightforward. Simmel views society as a series of interactions between individuals, all of whom are operating based on their own drives and needs. The cornerstone of this idea is ‘sociation’ which is “the form in which individuals grow together into a unity and within which their interests are realized” (Simmel 1908, p. 24). Sociation occurs when these individuals interact in a way that constitutes unity, and all interaction between individuals constitutes society. Simmel points out interaction as the chief component of society; while individuals can be together in isolation, it is only through interaction and sociation that they can form a society. These interactions consist of both content (what is being said or meant in the interaction) and form (the manner in which the interaction itself takes place).
Both Simmel and Durkheim’s theories of what constitutes society, whether it is interaction or the division of labor, fit into the realm of sociology. Durkheim, one of the founders of sociology, focuses much more greatly on the role of the sociologist as an objective and impartial observer in society, to make sure that the most accurate assessment of a society can be attained. He believed that “it is possible to treat [social phenomena] scientifically without removing any of their distinctive characteristics,” such as their immateriality; social facts can only be explained by other social facts (Durkheim 1966, pp. 210-211). To that end, “Sociology isnot an auxiliary of any other science; it is itself a distinct and autonomous science” (Durkheim 1966, p. 211). In this respect, Durkheim’s definition of sociology involved treating social events and interactions as objective and incontrovertible facts with the same level of validity as more quantitative scientific inquiry.
According to Simmel, sociology “must exclusively investigate these interactions [between individuals], these kinds and forms of sociation” (Simmel 1908, p. 25). Unlike Durkheim, who believes that society is a series of ‘facts’ that can live outside of the individual person and can be found through rigorous sociological inquiry, Simmel believes that the form of society cannot exist without these interactions, and that sociology must study society by examining these social relationships into which humans enter. In many ways, Simmel’s approach is more dour and dim than Durkheim’s, but he still emphasized the real existence of society as propped up by the existence of human-to-human interactions. While the content of these interactions does not matter overmuch, Simmel was obsessed with determining the ways in which these interactions take form, and believed that truly constituted the nature of social reality.
When examining the sociological theories of Emile Durkheim and Georg Simmel, two distinct definitions of society and sociology can be discovered. For Durkheim, society is an inescapable, objective entity that exists regardless of what the individuals within it do, and sociologists must study society through an in-depth, highly detailed lens in order to truly discover more of these truths. Simmel, meanwhile, takes a more holistic approach, believing that society, while real, does not exist without the interactions between individuals that can be observed. Furthermore, the form of these interactions is more important than the content, as he is more interested in the how of the formation of society than Durkheim’s presumption of the facts of society. These two differing approaches constitute a broad spectrum of sociological practice and theory that ranges from viewing the study of society as a vital and fundamental study of human environments to the day-to-day exchanges of information, communication and emotions that can be difficult to truly put into objective form. To that end, the acute differences between what constitutes society is very clear: whether it is Durkheim’s focus on facts or Simmel’s emphasis on form, sociology is a dense and rich field of study.
References
Durkheim, E. (1984). The Division of Labor in Society. London: Macmillan.
Durkheim, E. (1966). The Rules of Sociological Method. New York: The Free Press.
Simmel, G. (1908). The problem of sociology. Philosophy of the Social Sciences: 23-35.
