Redefining Reality - The Intellectual Implications of Modern Science

At the turn of the 20 th century, the Protestant/Catholic divide was
mapped onto other socially relevant differences. Protestants tended
to have more wealth, to be better educated, and to hold positions of
power, while Catholics tended to be poorer and less educated and
held menial jobs. Protestants and Catholics occupied very different
social niches. Durkheim wondered if these differences could be a
result of social structure, and if so, what were the relevant features?
Durkheim emphasized the importance of working from data, which
give us access to what Durkheim called social facts.
A social fact has two elements to it. First, “it consists of a way
of acting, thinking, and feeling external to the individual.” We
grow up in a culture, and as a result, we are acculturated into
it. We develop habits by virtue of being part of a society, habits
that are standard within the group. We internalize these habits
so that they seem natural, but they are not the result of our own
decisions. Instead, they come from the social context in which
we found ourselves as children. We were taught these social
facts, and they became part of who we are.
The second element of social facts is that there are
consequences for ignoring them. In other words, social facts
are norms that are enforced. They are, in Durkheim’s words,
“endowed with coercive power.” Follow the social fact and
you are normal, for which you receive perks. Disobey the fact
and you are pathological, for which you receive penalties. Note
that the enforcement comes from a social structure.
Social facts are sociological facts. They are the basic building
blocks of a science that looks at the emergent entity society. It
and explain them.
Sociologists look to see what is universal. The fact that something
is normal everywhere means that it serves some function in the
social structure. When you look at every society, Durkheim argues,
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