Exercise 2 solution

Durkheim's definition (from Wikipedia's Social fact article): a way of acting capable of exerting an external constraint on the individual.

(a) The English language: a social fact. It existed before you, it is external to you, and speakers who break its rules are corrected or misunderstood (the constraint is informal).

(b) Your liking for an ice cream flavour: not a social fact in this sense. It is a personal preference. (A sociologist might still ask whether the range of flavours on sale shapes it, but the liking itself is not a shared way of acting that presses on you.)

(c) The value of a pound coin: a social fact. Currency is on Durkheim's list. Its value depends on everyone else accepting it, and you cannot change it by deciding it is worth something different.

(d) A marriage ceremony: a social fact. Marriage is on Durkheim's list of institutions, and the forms it takes are set by custom and law.

(e) Your headache: not a social fact. It is a personal bodily event.

Note: the answer to (b) and the remark about flavours are my own reasoning (check with a textbook).