ABSTRACT
Durkheim is often ranked alongside Marx and Weber to form a triumvirate of key figures whose influence on the development of sociology is unparalleled. To many sociologists he epitomizes the founding father figure in academic sociology. Unlike Marx or Weber he actually defined his vocation in terms of a mission to develop sociology as an accepted and esteemed discipline within the university world, and he identified closely with that professional role. It is the key to his character and to his work. With regard to his character, Marcel Mauss described him as “the professional conscience personified” [1]. Furthermore, in terms of professional priorities, he sacrificed many of his own projects (including, unfortunately, a projected book on current developments in socialist thought, which included Marxism), to the founding and editing of l’Année sociologique. He was convinced that the journal, by its scope and scholarship, could do more for the establishment of sociology than any single work. In the preface to the second edition of his own work, The Rules of Sociological Method, he was able to report that:
“It is nonetheless true that, in recent years, in spite of opposition, the cause of objective, specific, and methodological sociology has gained ground continuously. The founding of the Année sociologique has certainly contributed much to this result. Because it embraces the entire field of the science, the Année has been able, better than any more limited enterprise, to establish a standard which sociology must, and will, achieve” [2].
