Distinguished status of Sociology from other Disciplines
One of Émile Durkheim’s most important intellectual responsibilities was to define sociology as a distinct scholarly discipline. During the late nineteenth century, questions about society were often treated as extensions of philosophy, psychology, history, economics, or political theory. Durkheim argued that sociology required its own subject matter and method because society possesses patterns, institutions, and moral forces that cannot be understood by examining isolated individuals alone. He did not deny

