Bio: (1869-1926) French sociologist and economist. Rene Worms studied and taught at the Ecole normale supérieure. He studied and taught political economy, but is best known for his organicist theory of society (organicism), sometimes called superorganicism. In 1893, Worms founded the sociological journal Revue Internationale de Sociologie (International Journal of Sociology), and he was also the founder of a sociological society - Société de Sociologie de Paris. Worms' definition of society as "a permanent set of living beings doing their work together" can be applied to both humans and animals. Although the relationships between people are primarily psychological, they still resemble relationships in a biological organism. The similarities between society and the organism are: 1) the external structure is changeable and irregular; 2) the internal structure is constantly changing due to the assimilation and integration of opposite processes, 3) the differentiation of parts is coordinated, 4) both systems reproduce themselves.

Main works

De la volonté unilatérale considérée comme source de l'obligation (1891);

Précis de philosophie (1891);

La Morale de Spinoza (1892);

De natura et methodo sociologiae (1896);

La Science et l'art en économie politique (1896);

Organisme et société (1896);

Philosophie des sciences sociales, 3 vol. (1903-1907);

Études d'économie et de législation rurales (1906);

Les Principes biologiques de l'évolution sociale (1910).