Читать книгу Sociology - Anthony Giddens - Страница 40

The arguments of his critics are legitimate, yet Durkheim’s study remains a sociological classic. It helped to establish sociology as a discipline with its own subject – the study of social facts – and his fundamental argument retains much of its force: that to grasp fully even the most personal actions of individuals demands a sociological explanation rather than one rooted in the exploration of personal motivation. Durkheim’s identification of suicide rates as a subject for study is today widely accepted, and the study is also important for its demonstration that social phenomena are amenable to systematic, scientific analysis using a rigorous methodology.