Politics and Society: Political Sociology

This chapter discusses Émile Durkheim’s political sociology, which is the most neglected of his contributions to social theory. Besides explaining the reason for this neglect, it makes out a case for revisiting the political content of his sociological thought. Towards this, it analyses in detail Durkheim’s political sociology as presented in two of his posthumous publications available in English, namely, Professional Ethics and Civic Morals (1958), and Socialism (1962). The main thread running through Durkheim’s political sociology, it is observed, is the relation between individaul and society.