He formulated the term “collective conscience” to describe the character of a particular society. This collective conscience differs completely from the individual conscience that conforms to it. By applying this concept to his work on “Suicide: a sociological study” in 1887, Durkheim showed that the act of committing suicide is the product of a deep conflict related to the exterior social environment. He also studied the basis for social stability, the set of values shared by society such as morality and religion. In his opinion, such a set of values that conforms to the collective conscience are the links to the cohesiveness that holds the social order together. The disappearance of such values leads society to a lack of social stability and anomie (Gr. “without law”), and feelings of anxiety and dissatisfaction among individuals. To explain his theories, he often took advantage of anthropological material, especially from aboriginal societies. Some of his titles are: The division of social labor (1893), The rules for sociological methods (1895), and Elemental forms of religious life (1912).