SOC 104 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Émile Durkheim, Sui Generis, Social Fact
26 Jan 2017
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Document Summary
The term social fact" is used to designate most phenomena that occur within a society. There a group of phenomena that is distinct to each society. Social facts are general throughout society, exterior to individuals, and are constraining. Social facts are characteristics that are external to the individual thus they exist regardless of an individual carrying them out. Social facts exist even when they are not being applied at a specific time. They are not a product of human creation but they are pre-existing or previously established phenomena and are learned by individuals through out their life thus are performed unconsciously. Also considered constraints, social facts are of the norm and most choose to conform to the norms and act in ways that represent these social facts. Social facts include those such as; legal and moral rules, religious principles, financial systems.
