Conception of Sociology: An Autonomous Positive Social Science

 Towards placing the analysis of substantive themes in Émile Durkheim’s sociology in perspective, this chapter elucidates some of the salient features of Durkheimian sociology. These include the continuum of social facts; the independence of sociology from philosophy; the emphasis on methodology; the reliance on objective data; the logic of functionalism; the conservative streak; and the distinction between applied sociology and the application of sociological knowledge.