Research Paper on:
Substance Abuse and Emile Durkheim's Social Theories

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
and controls over its members. Without these aspects during times of rapid change and stress, group cohesion breaks down, called anomie by Durkheim, resulting in social deviance from groups members  which may include such social phenomena as substance use and abuse. Todays studies on substance use and abuse take into account biological, psychological and social factors but group relationships are  those which are considered as the "protective factors" for prevention of substance use and abuse. Those who are members of groups including families, schools, peers, social and religious which have  higher cohesive, interactive and integration levels, are less likely to deviate from the morals and values of that group and interactive group programs are encouraged as preventative and supportive measures  in communities considered at-risk for substance use and abuse and for those who are in addiction therapy. Social Theories of Emile Durkheim The theories of Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) basically  rejected biological and psychological interpretations of social phenomena and instead focused on the basics of social behavior. For Durkheim, social phenomena are "social facts" and are the subject matter of  sociology. Social facts have "distinctive social characteristics and determinants, which are not amendable to explanations on the biological or psychological level [and] are external to any particular individual considered as  a biological entity" (Coser, 1977, p. 129). These factors which are external to the individual outlast individuals who die over time and are replaced by others who are also impacted  by social factors. Not only are they external but that are "endowed with coercive power, by which they impose themselves upon him, independent of his individual will" (Coser, 1977, p.  129). For Durkheim, constraints only come into play when social laws or customs are violated. While Durkheim had originally focused his attention to how this resulted in law making he