Social Facts: How Society Shapes the Way We Act

According to Emile Durkheim, Social Facts are outside restrictions which control the way people act, think, and feel. These constraints may be rigid or unfixed. Social Facts may also be defined as a way of behaving that is set throughout a society. In both cases, the Social Fact exists independent of the individual occurrences.

Durkheim went further to say that every action is controlled by Social Facts. Things such as marriage, suicide, and birth are all controlled by Social Facts. He theorized that if we were to divide the number of marriages by the number of individuals of marrying age in our society, we would find that the numbers were significant. Durkheim said that this statistic would clearly prove that our motivations are controlled by Social Facts.

Therefore, we can say that Durkheim believed that Social Facts can and do explain all phenomena we see in the world. He uses the example of education to explain this position. From an early age, we impose ways of speaking, writing, and seeing on children. However, if children were left to their own devices, which is almost impossible, they may create very different ways of doing things such as speaking, writing, and seeing. For example, children learn in school that the sky is blue. But if it were left up to them to decide what a color looks like and what it should be called, they would have a completely different perception.

This leads us to believe that there is not one true fact that people have not somehow shaped with a Social Fact. I cannot say something as simple as the moon revolves around the earth. This is because human beings have defined what the moon and the sun are. Furthermore, revolving is a concept humans have created to explain phenomena.

Durkheim takes a very holistic, convincing approach to his theory of Social Facts. It can be applied to all situations which in turn proves itself and shows that it is a universal truth. However, there can be facts that are not Social Facts. Yes, terms are created and defined by society so no statement can exist outside the realm of Social Facts. However, if I drop a pen without saying anything, a force obviously acted on that pen. Without calling the force gravity, which is defined by language, or saying that the pen fell in a downward motion, which is defined by sight, the pen did fall. And that is a fact.