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observation, duly combined.’ (Coser 1971:3) He believed that in order to study society, social phenomena must be witnessed and observed whilst using objective rationality. This would lead to reliable theories being developed about society. Durkheim was particularly influenced by this positivist attitude towards studying society as well as Comte’s philosophical concept of social realism, the idea that society should be studied independently of the individual. [Quotation from a first-year sociology student’s essay] In the extract above you can see how the