Editing Émile Durkheim (section)

===Establishing sociology===
Durkheim authored some of the most programmatic statements on what sociology is and how it should be practiced.<ref name="Calhoun2002-103"/> His concern was to establish sociology as a science.<ref>{{harvp|Popolo|2011|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=vMALg_p5zHsC&pg=PA97 pp. 97–]}}</ref> Arguing for a place for sociology among other sciences, he wrote, "sociology is, then, not an auxiliary of any other science; it is itself a distinct and autonomous science."<ref>{{harvp|Brinton|Nee|2001|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=71e_jsQpzg0C&pg=PR11 pp. 11–]}}</ref>

To give sociology a place in the academic world and to ensure that it is a legitimate science, it must have an object that is clear and distinct from philosophy or psychology, and its own [[methodology]].<ref name="Calhoun2002-105"/> He argued that "there is in every society a certain group of phenomena which may be differentiated from those studied by the other natural sciences."<ref name="AppelrouthEdles2007">[[#CITEREFDurkheim2007|Durkheim, Émile. 2007 [1895]]]. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=EUQT47IqVdgC&pg=PA101 The Rules of Sociological Method]." Pp. 95–102 in ''[[iarchive:classicalcontemp0000appe/page/95|Classical and Contemporary Sociological Theory: Text and Readings]]'', edited by S. Appelrouth and L. D. Edles. Thousand Oaks, CA: [[SAGE Publishing|Pine Forge Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0-7619-2793-8}}.</ref>{{Rp|95}}

In the [[Tarde-Durkheim debate]] of 1903, the "anthropological view" of [[Gabriel Tarde]] was ridiculed and hastily dismissed.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}

A fundamental aim of sociology is to discover structural "[[social fact]]s".<ref name="Calhoun2002-105"/><ref name="socialfact">Durkheim, Émile. 1938 [1895]. ''[[The Rules of Sociological Method]]'', translated by S. A. Solovay and J. H. Mueller, edited by G. E. G. Catlin.</ref>{{Rp|13}} The establishment of sociology as an independent, recognized academic discipline is among Durkheim's largest and most lasting legacies.<ref name="Calhoun2002-107" /> Within sociology, his work has significantly influenced structuralism or [[structural functionalism]].<ref name="Calhoun2002-107" /><ref name="Allan_103">{{harvp|Allan|2005|p=103}}</ref>