Emile Durkheim's Contribution to the Sociology of Education

Résumé

While Emile Durk.heim is well known as an important theorist in the development of modern sociology, it is noted that few sociologists and even fewer educators recognize his significant contribution to the sociology of education. This paper provides a brief historical framework which, it is argued had a great influence upon Durkheim's thinking regarding the relationship of education to society. His major theories of education are discussed under three major groupings - education developing as a social process, education's function in the socialization of the young, and education in the development of morality. Durkheim's practical applications of sociological theory to education remain timely for today's educational process.