<P> French sociologist Émile Durkheim defined the term , and argued that the discipline of Sociology should be understood as the empirical study of social facts . For Durkheim , social facts `` ... consist of manners of acting , thinking and feeling external to the individual , which are invested with a coercive power by virtue of which they exercise control over him . '' </P>
<P> French sociologist Émile Durkheim defined the term , and argued that the discipline of Sociology should be understood as the empirical study of social facts . For Durkheim , social facts `` ... consist of manners of acting , thinking and feeling external to the individual , which are invested with a coercive power by virtue of which they exercise control over him . '' </P>
who has propounded the idea that we can treat social facts as things
who has propounded the idea that we can treat social facts as things
Émile Durkheim
Émile Durkheim