Analysis Of The Normal And The Pathology By Emile Durkheim

In “The Normal and the Pathological” article Dr. Emile Durkheim explains how crime is inevitable in all types of societies ranging from low class throughout high class “There is no society that is not confronted with the problem of criminality” (Durkheim, 1964). He goes on to explain how crimes in one society may not be crimes in another society because the acts that characterize crime are not the same everywhere. (Durkheim, 1964). There is some indication that crime decreases as we move from lower class to higher class but as Dr. Durkheim explains the movement of criminality is much larger. “From the beginning of the [nineteenth] century, statistics enable us to follow the course of criminality. It has everywhere increased.” (Durkheim, 1964). Crime is not an abnormality in society but is just simply a part of our existence on earth. Although there are certain times when crimes may be considered abnormal for example, high crime rates are abnormal in society. …show more content…
Durkheim goes on in his article to demonstrate why crime is normal in society and he begins by simply explaining how a society without crime is impossible. The only way to completely get rid of crime would be to have it increase so high across all of the society that stopping it became the sole focus of all of the society. It is also important to understand that certain crimes are considered worse than others even though they violate the same principle. “Thus, for example, theft and mere misappropriation of property offend the same altruistic sentiment, the respect for other people’s possessions. However, this sentiment is offended less strongly by the later action than the former.” (Durkheim, 1964). If the awareness for the sentiment raises in society people will become more offended by simpler actions. This, in turn, will cause people to believe that even their smallest flaws will be just as bad as the worse