Useful Durkheim: His work and his legacy one century after his death
Résumé
Émile Durkheim (1858–1917) is the founding father of French sociology and his influence has extended well beyond the borders of France. He died one hundred years ago, on the 15th of November 1917. One century after his death, what does our discipline still owe to the works of the man who is known as one of its founding fathers? What new questions and answers have been inspired by his ideas? How have we embraced them and what have the consequences been in theoretical, conceptual and methodological terms? What and why does contemporary sociology owe, for better or for worse, to the scientific writings of Durkheim?