Concept context epistemology in comparative political science

Émile Durkheim Direito, Representações Coletivas e Solideriedade Social - Émile as marked by the importance of community, moral, and the law, he is considered one of the "fathers" of socology because of his effort to establish sociology as a discipline distinct from philosophy and psychology. He had two main themes, the priority of social over the individual and the ideia that sociology was studied like a science. He´s argument was that social facts are the social norms and values that are external and coercive over the individual, therefore, are susceptible of being studied. For him, the society is external to us and coercive. One of the mains aspects of his work is the link between individuals/society with social solidarity, he does not see a class strugle, instead, sees forms of solidarity with bad side-effects. For Marx, law is a trick, a mask, it is not the reality of the world, for Durkheim, law is the basic moral principles and the primal connection between the individual and the society. Law is the set of moral norms and solidarity, law and crime are good for the maintenance of society, beacause law maintains social solidarity and therefore maintains all society. He divides solidarity in mechanical solidarity and organic solidarity. A solidariedade mecânica, que surge da deficiente divisão do trabalho, corresponde a sanções legais repressivas – a consciência coletiva é elevada. A solidariedade orgânica surge da dependência inter-pessoal (e advém de uma divisão altamente especializada do trabalho) relaciona-se com sanções legais restituitivas – consciência coletiva diminuta. Durkheim was a critic of the type of laws that punished certain acts when these acts were not detrimental to society, like marijuana use in the contemporary context, for example, which does not seem to cause social harm, nor harm to the user, remains illegal. This is likely due to deeply rooted religious values that oppose its use, if not traditional conservative political values that do the same. Changing the legality of marijuana use would act as a shock to the political and religious values that dominate society, and tend to shape the collective consciousness.