Emile Durkheim

(1858 - 1917) - French sociologist. Influenced the development of psychological studies of relations between the individual and society. Identified as a key explanatory principle of human behavior produced by the notion of society 'collective representations' as the special facts - social life, . to determine the rye-vision of the individual ( 'Rules of sociological method', . 1894),
. D. believed that the early stages of historical development of individual consciousness is fully absorbed by the collective, and in terms of specificity of this provision has studied the genesis and function of religion. Rejecting the psychological explanations of suicide, D. believed that the reasons for this phenomenon lies in the dependence of the individual against social norms in situations of their fall.