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This book, the latest addition to the aclaimed Past Masters series, provides a compact and readable introduction to the work one of history's most important thinkers and social theorists. Durkheim's sociology is a brilliant exploration of the forces that undermine social order, forces that need to be countered if anarchy is to be held at bay. His analyses of labor, crime and punishment, religion and ritual, and the structure of the modern state are offered in the conviction that the goal of sociology is to understand social institutions in order to make them more responsive to the needs of today. Avoiding theoretical jargon and written in clear, accessible language, Durkheim is perfect for readers encountering this great thinker for the first time, as well as specialists interested in a comnprehensive view of his pathbreaking system.