Why was Emile Durkheim an ahistorical theorist?

Question

Why was Emile Durkheim an ahistorical theorist?

Answer 1

He never came close to a theory in his life. I, and many others in science, think he was delusional!

Answer 2

This is simple. Durkheim was a structural functionalist and by definition, structural functionalists are not interested in the changes in a society over time but rather are interested in discovering the underlying mechanisms that a society operates on. In this way, structural functionalists are interested in one slice of time rather than a range of time. Therefore, Durkheim is an ahistorical theorist meaning he is not interested in theory that tries to understand how change occurs.