Starting in the 1970s, the collective work of revision and rediscovery of a ‘new Durkheim’ has begun unveiling the richness of Durkheim’s sociology, freeing his legacy from the limits of previous interpretations. For some decades now, researchers have begun confronting and revising the traditional image of Durkheim as a sociologist who has a strong epistemological continuity with positivism, who is ideologically conservative and whose abstract functionalism often lacks a proper historical understanding of political institutions. 

What links the contributions in this Anthem Companion to Émile Durkheim is a shared conviction of the necessity of moving forward and contributing to a new phase characterized by a new vision of Durkheim’s theories. The contributions to this volume provide new insights into Durkheim’s classical texts and juxtapose them with the reconstruction of his lectures and lesser known writings to offer a wider understanding of his oeuvre. 

The Anthem Companion to Émile Durkheim intends to offer different practical attempts to build on Durkheim’s legacy and investigate the issues and controversies that characterise contemporary societies and thus contribute to develop further this path of critical enquiry into ‘classical sociology’.

Gregor Fitzi is associated researcher at the Centre Georg Simmel, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris. 

Nicola Marcucci is visiting assistant professor in the department of sociology at The New School for Social Research in New York City and a member of the LIER at EHESS in Paris. 

Anthem Companions to Sociology

Introduction: Gregor Fitzi, Nicola Marcucci, “Explorations with the New Durkheim”; Intellectual Contexts and Epistemological Issues: Susan Stedman Jones, “Back to the Future: Durkheim and the Aporia of Sociological Theory”, Keith Sawyer, “The ‘Autonomy of Mental and Social entities’. A Paraphrased New Translation of Durkheim’s Article ‘Individual and Collective Representations’”; Education, Moral Regulation and Religion: Giovanni Paoletti, “Education, Social Link and Social Change: A Survey on Durkheim’s Pedagogical Works”, Gregor Fitzi, “Moral Sociology: The Actuality of a Research Programme”, Ivan Strenski, “Affinities, Antipathies and the Buddhadharma: The Genesis of Durkheim’s Concept of Religion”; Law and Politics: Roger Cotterrell, “Law and Justice in Durkheim’s Sociology”, Nicola Marcucci, “The Institution of Justice. Solidarity as the Obligation of the Moderns according to Durkheim”, Francesco Callegaro, “Towards a Sociological Socialism. Durkheim’s Political Perspective in Retrospect”; Social and Political Controversies: Stefania Ferrando, “Durkheim’s Theory of the Modern Family. Freedom, the State, and Sociology”, Pierre Charbonnier, “Durkheim and the Industrial Remaking of the World. Autonomy with and against Nature”.