Social facts are collective and general beliefs, behaviors, and actions within a group (Durkheim, 2016). Social facts are not created by individuals or their thoughts or actions, but rather by a group consciousness, which is an important nuance for Durkheim because social facts must exist outside of the individual. People repeating similar behaviors does not create a social fact. Rather, Durkheim would argue that people repeat similar behaviors because a social fact has conditioned them to act that way. Social facts live outside of individuals, yet they exert control over individuals, and this can manifest in additional privileges in some areas and reduced privileges in others (Longhofer & Winchester, 2016). 

Social facts are tenets of a society, and they do not cease to exist when people of one generation die and those of a new generation are born, though they can change over time as new collective influences emerge in a society. An excellent of this is education as a social fact. Much of human knowledge is built upon past information, and it is presented to new members of a society in order to acclimate them to fit in with the society. Education changes over time to allow for new, pertinent information to be included, but it can also include the removal of certain information based on societal values. Education allows transmission of facts of nature as well as interpretations for how those facts fit into the society, how humans are supposed to interact in the society, and the goals and ideals of the society. 

Language is another good example of a social fact. Language continues to exist outside of an individual and is associated with the collective group of nationality or region. Language is key to working within a society. An individual may choose not to use their country’s language, but doing so will remove many privileges, such as being able to communicate to friends and peers, buy items or transportation, participate in the workforce, receive proper healthcare, etc. Language is an essential social fact that allows for social order to be maintained. This is an easy one for many individuals to conform to since it is very difficult to exist within a society without understanding what is being said. However, this is a social norm that has shifted over time in the US where English and Spanish are both common languages, though not everyone speaks or reads both. This can be mitigated by the use of translating technology, such as internet webpages, apps, or real-time translation technology. The fundamental need for language as a form of communication has not shifted, but access to the right kind of language has. Language has also become more complex with new words, new popular phrases or slang, the incorporation of emoticons and emojis, and the blend of informal texting, instant messaging, and email with hand-written forms. Other social facts include religion, government, financial systems, marriage, family norms, and groups behaviors such as performance etiquette, among others.

According to Merton (2016), there are both latent and manifest functions within society. The manifest functions are those whose results are intended, whereas latent functions are unintended results. For example, both the manifest functions of education, like the transmission of facts of nature and social rules, goals, and ideals, and the latent functions, such as allowing parents to have time away from children in order to accomplish other socially important tasks like participating in the workforce, are important for maintaining larger social order. Durkheim similarly viewed latent functions as important, especially for crime and deviance, in that an individual acting in deviance can reinforce social norms within a society. However, while Durkheim saw deviance as a natural aspect of society in order to uphold social order, Merton considered deviance to be a failure of normative systems within social order (Hilbert, 1989). Merton believed that a stable society would include members that have conformed to the ideals and goals of that society, so deviance represents a breakdown in social order.

Additionally, according to Durkheim (2016), the increasing complexity of social order was due to a shift from mechanical to organic solidarity. Mechanical solidarity is found in rudimentary forms of civilization, and is primarily a forced grouping based on location and similar lifestyles that uphold simple, like-minded values, beliefs, and ideals. Organic solidarity is formed from natural associations with others in a highly differentiated society where forced grouping due to lack of other options has dissolved. Organic groups were formed through mutual reliance on other groups, which is inherent to a complex society. For example, factory workers relied on factor owners for jobs and reliable income while factory owners relied on factory workers for the production of goods, and this relationship is not seen as exploitative or predatory in comparison to Marx’s conflict theory (Longhofer & Winchester, 2016). Merton would explain the existence of corruption and the “deprived class” as a result of the failure of the social order since the economic, political, and business systems were created with the functions of corruption in them, so these corrupt or exploitative “byproducts” are actually functions of an existing social order. Anomie, as the approach of the death of a society and breakdown of social order, is connected to deviance and corruption, but Durkheim and Merton viewed the connection in different ways. Durkheim saw deviance as preventing anomie since deviance reinforces optimal social norms, but Merton thought of anomie as causing deviance because deviance is a result of a breakdown of social order (Hilbert, 1989).

Want to know more?

• Durkheim, E. (2016). The Rules of Sociological Method. In W. Longhofer & D. Winchester (Eds.), Social Theory Re-Wired: New Connections to Classical and Contemporary Perspectives (pp. 9–15). Taylor & Francis Group.
• Hilbert, R. A. (1989). Durkheim and Merton on Anomie: An Unexplored Contrast and Its Derivatives. Social Problems, 36(3), 242–250. https://doi.org/10.2307/800693.
• Longhofer, W. & Winchester, D. (2016). Emergence Through Convergence: The Puzzles of Social Order. In W. Longhofer & D. Winchester (Eds.), Social Theory Re-Wired: New Connections to Classical and Contemporary Perspectives (pp. 1–8). Taylor & Francis Group.
• Merton, R. (2016). Manifest and Latent Functions. In W. Longhofer & D. Winchester (Eds.), Social Theory Re-Wired: New Connections to Classical and Contemporary Perspectives (pp. 68–84). Taylor & Francis Group.