What are social facts How do we recognise them - Sociology - Introducing Western Sociologists

Question

What are social facts? How do we recognise them?

Pallavi Rawat · Accepted Answer

According to Emile Durkheim, sociology is the study of social
facts Social facts are things that are external to an individual
and constrain their behaviour They are general in nature, which
means that they are collective representations of social behaviour
of a group of people Social institutions like law, education and
religion also constitute social facts along with beliefs, feelings
and collective practices In order to prove that sociology is based
on social facts, Durkheim carried out the study of
‘suicide’ According to it, suicide is a personal choice
that an individual commits, but the average rate of suicide in
society reflects social behaviour and is a social fact Hence social
facts can be recognised through social behaviour, and the aggregate
patterns of social behaviour