To Pursue A Goal Which Is By

A Social Fact Is Every Way Of Acting, Fixed Or Not, Capable Of Exercising On The Individual An External Constraint; Or Again, Every Way Of Acting Which Is General Throughout A Given Society, While At The Same Time Existing In Its Own Right Independent Of Its Individual Manifestations.

We Do Not Condemn It Because It Is A Crime, But It Is A Crime Because We Condemn It.

Sociological Method As We Practice It Rests Wholly On The Basic Principle That Social Facts Must Be Studied As Things, That Is, As Realities External To The Individual. There Is No Principle For Which We Have Received More Criticism; But None Is More Fundamental. Indubitably For Sociology To Be Possible, It Must Above All Have An Object All Its Own. It Must Take Cognizance Of A Reality Which Is Not In The Domain Of Other Sciences... There Can Be No Sociology Unless Societies Exist, And That Societies Cannot Exist If There Are Only Individuals.

When Mores Are Sufficient, Laws Are Unnecessary. When Mores Are Insufficient, Laws Are Unenforceable.

At This Point, An Urgent Question Arises: [...] Is It Our Duty To Seek To Become A Thorough And Complete Human Being, One Quite Sufficient Unto Himself; Or, On The Contrary, To Be Only A Part Of A Whole, The Organ Of An Organism? Briefly, Is The Division Of Labor, At The Same Time That It Is A Law Of Nature, Also A Moral Rule Of Human Conduct; And, If It Has This Latter Character, Why And In What Degree?