Worms, RenÉ

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Worms, RenÉ

Renè Worms (1869-1926), French sociologist, was the son of the political economist Émile Worms. He studied at the École Normale Supèrieure, and after completing his agrègation in philosophy, he acquired doctorates of law, of letters, and of science, as well as the rank of agrègè of economic science. Although a contemporary of the highly influential Durkheim, Worms remained largely independent of the Durkheimians in his organizational activities and teaching career, in his sociological thought, and as a man of action.

In 1893 (two years before the Durkheimian Annèe sociologique first appeared) Worms founded both the Revue internationale de sociologie and the Institut International de Sociologie. Like Durkheim, Worms was a gifted organizer of sociological activities, but since he made no attempt to dominate a cohesive and obedient “school,” he was able to appeal to mature men of various orientations, such as Espinas, Giddings, Gumplowicz, Marshall, Menger, de Roberty, Simmel, Tarde, Tönnies, Veblen, and Westermarck. The Revue and the Annales of the institute contain many writings by these and other non-Durkheimian social scientists, French as well as foreign. (Émigrès from Russia and central Europe were particularly well represented.) The Bibliotheque Sociologique Internationale, also founded by Worms in 1893, eventually published over fifty books by the above scholars and others. Many of these attended the meetings of the Societe de Sociologie de Paris, founded by Worms in 1895.

While Worms’s teaching career began at the secondary-school level, in philosophy, he simultaneously served as Bergson’s substitute at the College de France. After 1907, he taught a course on the history of sociology at the École des Hautes Études Sociales and concurrently a cours libre in the University of Paris law faculty. He also taught rural economics in the law faculty of the University of Caen and a course on the philosophy of commerce at the École des Hautes Études Commerciales in Paris.

In addition to his academic activities, Worms served for over twenty years in the Académie d’Agriculture de France and on the Conseil d’État. His experience in these governmental advisory organizations is reflected in his discussions of the relationship between “social art” and “social science": social art (today called social action) suggests problems for scientific investigation; social science in turn develops a body of theoretical concepts which can guide subsequent social art.

Worms is frequently considered a member of the organismic school of sociology. This interpretation is based largely on an early work, Organisme et sociètè (1896b), in which he developed the analogy between the biological organism and society along lines similar to those followed by Comte, Spencer, and Espinas, but carried the analogy perhaps even further than they did: since societies operate according to general principles similar to those of biological organisms, it follows that sociology as a science can learn much from biology. Thus, it is possible to develop an anatomy of societies, grouping and classifying the elements of the social body into social cells, layers, organs, and tissues, and a physiology of societies, analyzing the performance of the functions of nutrition, reproduction, and so on.

The utility of the organismic analogy was strongly questioned by Durkheim and Tarde, among others, and Worms, who was especially sensitive to the criticisms of Tarde, thereupon reformulated his position when he prepared his major three-volume treatise, Philosophic des sciences sociales (1903-1907). In contrast to the highly systematic Organisme et sociètèe, the Philosophie is a markedly eclectic work. The organismic analogy is briefly sketched at the outset and virtually abandoned later. Worms’s limited-range statements in this work have stood the test of time relatively well; his eclecticism permitted him to escape many of the false dichotomies that plagued Durkheim and Tarde. To argue that social facts are characterized by imitation ( as Tarde did) or by exteriority and constraint (as Durkheim did) is to twist social reality to fit a general theory, Worms asserted. Social facts are both external and internal; they may or may not involve imitation; they may be perceived as constraints or they may be fully accepted. General external characteristics of social facts are multiplicity, complexity, diversity in space, and variation in time; general internal characteristics are mentality, causality, and regularity—for mentalities, causes, and regularities are not purely social but are also characteristic of individuals. Social change, according to Worms, does not derive exclusively from either individual innovations (as Tarde believed) or collective actions (as Durkheim held).

Worms’s eclectic theoretical perspective was reflected in his views on the compatibility of the social sciences: he maintained that the three disciplines of psychology, social psychology, and sociology are all legitimate and that there is no necessity for conflict between them—a view that is decidedly more balanced than that of either Tarde or Durkheim.

Worms’s statement of the relationship between theory, methods, and empirical data is somewhat like that of Robert K. Merton. “Partial syntheses” and “more general syntheses” were essential preliminaries to “general laws,” he felt. He analyzed both causal relationships and what are today termed functional relationships. He presented relatively extensive and, for the period, advanced discussions on the use of statistics, monographs (case studies), surveys, experiments, and historical and ethnographic methods in developing sociological theories.

Worms criticized the one-factor deterministic theories current in his time, emphasizing that social change can originate either in the realm of ideas or in that of social structure. Correspondingly, economic, kinship, religious, political, and legal institutions all possess some degree of autonomy, and all influence one another to a certain degree. In a series of chapters on these various institutions, Worms reviewed outstanding theories and empirical findings dealing with each of them and attempted to establish a series of generalizations in each area. For example, in his treatment of the evolution of value systems, he combined Tarde’s quantitative analysis of change in the frequency of different types of crimes with Durkheim’s theories about individual infractions against the collective conscience. Discussing science, he built upon the classifications of Comte and Manouvrier but suggested that instead of one continuum it would be more useful to establish three general groupings: natural, biological, and social sciences. Worms clearly understood that science is a social institution, for it is collective, international, disinterested, and continuous.

Although Worms’s impact on subsequent French sociologists was relatively modest, he contributed intellectual and institutional support for sociological development outside the realm of the more dogmatic Durkheimian, psychologistic, and Le Playist “schools.” A cluster of social scientists who remained independent of the schools, including G. Richard, D. Essertier, and other lesser-known writers, found in Worms and his Revue a tolerance and support for the most heterogeneous ideas. These independent writers provided an informed critical audience for the work of the more dogmatic social scientists, helping them to keep a more balanced perspective on their own work. In addition, through the development of a tradition of eclectic work, ? a synthesis of the contributions from the several schools began to emerge in French sociology in the late 1930s, which has developed still further since 1945.

Terry N. Clark

[For the historical context of Worms’s work, seeSociology, article on The Early History Of Social Research; and the biographies ofDurkheim; Le Play; Tarde.]

WORKS BY WORMS

1891a De la volonte unilatèrale considèrèe comme source d’obligations en droit romain et en droit frangais. París: Giard & Brière.

1891b Élèments de philosophic scientifique et de philosophic morale. Paris: Hachette.

1891c Prècis de philosophie, d’après les Lecons de philosophic de M. E. Rabier. Paris: Hachette.

1892 La morale de Spinoza. Paris: Hachette.

1896a De natura et methodo sociologiae. París: Giard & Brière.

1896b Organisme et sociètè. París: Giard & Brière.

(1903-1907) 1913-1920 Philosophie des sciences sociales. 3 vols. París: Giard & Brière. → Volume 1: Objet des sciences sociales. Volume 2: Mithode des sciences sociales. Volume 3: Conclusions des sciences sociales. Volume 3 contains a list of Worms’s articles and brochures published before 1907.

1906 Étudès d’èconomie et de legislation rurales. París: Giard & Brière.

1910 Les principes biologiques de I’èvolution sociale. París: Giard & Brière.

1912 La sexualitè dans les naissances frangaises. París: Giard & Brière.

1914 Les associations agricoles. París: Giard & Brière.

1917 Natalitè et règime successoral. Paris: Payot.

1921 La sociologie: Sa nature, son contenu, ses attaches. París: Giard & Brière. → A concise summary of Worms’s three-volume Philosophie des sciences sociales.