Émile Durkheim, precursor of family sociology

Émile Durkheim is considered one of the founding fathers of sociology, being the one who succeeded in creating the sub-field of family sociology in a rigorous and scientific way. His research lies in a context in which individualism and social solidarity had to be reconciled, being concerned with the resolution of the divisions and problems faced by the end of the nineteenth century, when a modern society began to emerge. Émile Durkheim considers the family as a school of devotion and abnegation and classifies it as the nucleus of morality. He believes that, besides the corporation, the family is the second factor that played a significant role in the moral history of the community. One of the major aspects of modernity understood in Durkheimian terms is the relationship between the family system and other social systems. This article aims to analyze his theoretical framework regarding the family sociology and to highlight its innovation in order to try to explain the role of the family in society as a generator of morality.