Dangerous Durkheim

• In Event: 209 - Theory Section Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 02. Rethinking Durkheim

Abstract

Emile Durkheim’s theory may be useless (Tilly, 1981) or useful (Emirbayer, 1996), but this paper asks whether it was dangerous. Since Durkheim’s ideas were appropriated by the ideological architect of the Armenian genocide, Ziya Gökalp, we argue that, indeed, Durkheim’s thoughts were “dangerous” when placed in the wrong hands. After briefly reviewing the history of the Armenian genocide and theories of mass state violence, this paper turns to an analysis of how Gökalp, director of the first Sociology program in Turkey, drew on Durkheimian theory to develop the ideological underpinnings of what would eventually become the forced expulsion and systematic extermination of 1-1.5 million Armenians from modern-day Turkey. We show how Durkheim’s theories of society and the collective, solidarity, nationalism, and education were mobilized to justify the Armenian genocide. Our paper concludes by turning a spotlight on the work of all social scientists: our discipline’s theories have been used to justify some of the darkest events in modern history including Nazism, imperialism, eugenics, and, of course, genocide. This is a difficult truth, but it must be acknowledged. Further, scholars must face the reality that our work will surely be manipulated as tepid justification for future events.

Authors

• Erik Schneiderhan, University of Toronto

• Aliza Rebecca Luft, University of Wisconsin-Madison