Emile Durkheim was a big believer in
education and possibility of moral education as a means for social reform. Is "Moral
Education" Durkheim builds on his elsewhere established theory of society
as a source of morality. Emile Durkheim sees the state of being associated with
social structures as the source of ontological perception, moral judgment and
rules of behavior. In "Moral Education" Durkheim describes morality
as comprised of three elements on which morality is constructed: discipline,
attachment and autonomy. According to Durkheim discipline restraints egoistic tendencies
and impulses, functioning to mediate aggressive self centered behavior. Attachment
is the degree to which one is willing to be committed to a social group and
autonomy is self accountability and responsibility for one's actions. The triadic
relation between discipline, attachment and autonomy builds morality as code
that is abided through complimenting and interdependent sources of action.
According to Durkheim education provides
children with these three aspects of morality required in order to function in
society. School, for example, demands of children both discipline ("sit
down and be quiet"), attachment ("love your country") and
autonomy ("do your homework"). And id education is the source of
morality then this means the morality can be changed through education, and
society reformed.
The reformation of society through moral
education for Durkheim is conducted not only and not necessarily at the level
of content of education (i.e. what is being learned) but also and maybe
predominantly at the level form. As described by Durkheim in works such as
"Division
of Labor in Society", attachment might be regarded as one of the weak
points of morality, due to low levels of social cohesion characteristic of
modern societies with high division of labor. Moral education will therefore
focus on the sense of belongingness to a group. For example, Durkheim suggests
that even adults can acquire moral education by associating themselves to
various associations (such as occupational ones).
Additional article summaries by Emile Durkheim:
Anomie according to DurkheimSuggested reading:
