ABSTRACT
Emile Durkheim is credited for formally establishing sociology as an academic discipline. He was also the first officially recognised sociologist in France and also in the world in the early twentieth century. Durkheim’s contributions in sociology range from offering a fresh perspective to look at social reality and defining the subject matter of sociology with precision to laying down a comprehensive set of rules for carrying out sociological investigation. Not only this, Durkheim also demonstrated with his works the possibility of adopting positivist methodology in the study of social phenomena which until then was considered only a necessity. Durkheim explored and investigated a wide range of topics ranging from the study of division of labour and its consequences for society as a whole, the causal explanation of suicide in terms of suicidal social currents to the functional explanation of religious beliefs and practices. Given the depth as well as the breadth of their sociological contributions, both Durkheim and Max Weber, are truly called the founding fathers of modern sociology.
