ABSTRACT
This chapter argues certain limitations, Durkheim's oeuvre contains within it, in embryonic form, certain very productive strains of global sociology', elements of his thought that should be made more explicit in a self-consciously global' age. It considers how the notion of society' as a bounded entity has come under much critical fire in recent years. The chapter examines the degree to which Durkheim's thought is imprisoned within the confines of methodological nationalism'. It explains that his remarks on such matters in The Division of Labour in Society and The Elementary Forms of Religious Life are rather more compelling than those to be found in his writings on civilization' and his lectures on world patriotism'. Finally, it argues that Durkheim's highly interesting, albeit tentative, moves towards a global turn' in sociology can serve as useful resources for present-day analysts, not least those who wish to reconfigure what counts as the classical' bases and resources of sociological inquiry.
