The reception of Durkheim's work has been considerably affected by the uneven manner in which his writings have appeared in published form. In his lifetime, he published four major books – De la division du travail social, Les règies de la méthode sociologique, Le suicide, and Les formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse – as well as various shorter monographs and numerous articles and reviews. But no fewer than five additional works, consisting of lectures which he prepared for the various courses which he taught at different points in his career, have appeared posthumously: L'éducation morale (1925), Le socialisme (1928), L'évolution pédagogique en France (1938), Leçons de sociologie (1950) and Pragmatisme et sociologie (1955). Only one of the first four books (Les formes élémentaires) was translated into English while he was alive: the others followed at long intervals. None of the latter group of works appeared in English until very recently, and two still await translation. Thus although his ideas have exerted a very extensive influence in the English-speaking world, they have been subject to frequent misrepresentations and distortions.

The present book is the first to provide a comprehensive set of selections from the whole corpus of Durkheim's writings. All of the selections are newly translated, regardless of whether or not they have previously appeared in English. When planning the book initially, I intended to include sections from existing translations, where available. But in comparing these with the originals it became apparent that some contained numerous dubious or erroneous renderings, and consequently I decided to offer a fresh set of translations.