According to Emile Durkheim, sociology is the study of social facts. Social facts are the things that are external to an individual and they constrain the individual behaviour. They are the collective representations of social behaviour of a group of people.

Social facts are the social values that exist in the larger society and affect the functions of the individuals. So they are more important than the individual.

Durkheim carried out the study of 'suicide' to prove that sociology is based on social facts. According to it, suicide is the personal choice of an individual, but the average rate of suicide in the society reflects the social behaviour and it becomes a social fact.

Thus, social facts can be recognised through the social behaviour, and there aggregate pattern.