The Anthem Companion to Émile Durkheim

Introduction: Gregor Fitzi, Nicola Marcucci, “Explorations with the New Durkheim”; Intellectual Contexts and Epistemological Issues: Susan Stedman Jones, “Back to the Future: Durkheim and the Aporia of Sociological Theory”, Keith Sawyer, “The ‘Autonomy of Mental and Social entities’. A Paraphrased New Translation of Durkheim’s Article ‘Individual and Collective Representations’”; Education, Moral Regulation and Religion: Giovanni Paoletti, “Education, Social Link and Social Change: A Survey on Durkheim’s Pedagogical Works”, Gregor Fitzi, “Moral Sociology: The Actuality of a Research Programme”, Ivan Strenski, “Affinities, Antipathies and the Buddhadharma: The Genesis of Durkheim’s Concept of Religion”; Law and Politics: Roger Cotterrell, “Law and Justice in Durkheim’s Sociology”, Nicola Marcucci, “The Institution of Justice. Solidarity as the Obligation of the Moderns according to Durkheim”, Francesco Callegaro, “Towards a Sociological Socialism. Durkheim’s Political Perspective in Retrospect”; Social and Political Controversies: Stefania Ferrando, “Durkheim’s Theory of the Modern Family. Freedom, the State, and Sociology”, Pierre Charbonnier, “Durkheim and the Industrial Remaking of the World. Autonomy with and against Nature”.

This collection is part of the "Anthem Companions to Sociology" series, which reflects on important sociological figures, broadly defined, and features essays by international scholars, including both sociologists and scholars from other disciplines. This approach yields an unusual breadth of perspectives. It also offers some challenges to American readers, who may find the literary styles and issues less than familiar. This text on Durkheim from editors Fitzi (School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, France) and Marcucci (The New School) explores 10 specific aspects of Durkheim’s sociology. Each essay deals with that chapter author’s particular interest in exhaustive, sometimes exhausting, detail. Readers may find this approach less basic and comprehensive than they might expect from a companion volume; the editors clearly assume an audience familiar with Durkheim’s entire body of work and prepared to engage with more focused issues. Thus, this work is most appropriate for advanced readers, particularly those specializing in the history and philosophy of social sciences —E. L. Maher, emerita, Indiana University South Bend.