Question

What are social facts? How do we recognise them?

Answer 1

According to Emile Durkheim, sociology is the study of social facts. Social facts are things that are external to an individual and constrain their behaviour. They are general in nature, which means that they are collective representations of the social behaviour of a group of people. Social institutions like law, education and religion also constitute social facts along with beliefs, feelings and collective practices. In order to prove that sociology is based on social facts, Durkheim carried out the study of ‘suicide’. According to it, suicide is a personal choice that an individual commits, but the average rate of suicide in society reflects social behaviour and is a social fact. Hence social facts can be recognised through social behaviour and the aggregate patterns of social behaviour.