ABSTRACT
In the work of Emile Durkheim we find neither the optimism of Marx, the revolutionary. nor the pessimism of Weber, the despairing liberal. Although he was clearly troubled by the strains and conflicts evident in modern society, Durkheim nevertheless remained convinced for most of his life that grounds for cautious optimism about the future existed. Only the terrible events of World War I, which he did not live to see concluded and in which his son was killed, may have shaken his confidence in scientific reason (Lukes 1975, pp. 402-3). In general, however, Durkheim’s name is associated with the view that by the adoption of a rigorous scientific sociology the problems of modern society could be understood and overcome. On this, and indeed many other points, his writings have always been the centre of intense controversy.
