Durkheim and his audience

Although Emile Durkheim's Republican audience in France demanded a "philosophical sociology" & were primarily middle class & university educated, it is argued that Durkheim recognized the necessity of his approach to answer political, moral, & public demands. Initially, Durkheimian sociology was critiqued for discounting Republican moral individualism; rather, Durkheim, in Le Suicide: etude sociologique ([Suicide: Sociological Study] 1897), promulgated an antiindividualist perspective of suicide. However, by dividing utilitarian egoism from moral individualism & by promulgating a more humanistic religion, Durkheim satisfied both the professional & public sectors of his audience. Contemporary sociology must continue to develop approaches that simultaneously satisfy professional & public expectations in order to survive. 19 References. J. W. Parker