Iranian Journal of Sociology

Abstract The purpose of present study is to investigate individual/society dualism in Durkheim’s works. Such problematic was introduced by Durkheim in the Division of Labour. ThePresent paper tries to show that Durkheim moved beyond this dualism in his later works. By focusing on moral individualism, at first he rejects essentialism in Spencer, Comte, utilitarian economists and psychologism. Secondly, he develops a conception of individualism which is meaningful in the context of society, not being opposite to it. In this way according to Durkheim, society is a moral existence and individualism is not based on arbitrary or economic ego, but on social morality. At last, for Durkheim, the main social force for extending moral individualism in modern society is education.