The best idea in chapter 20 is... that Durkheim's conservative sociology (169, ch. 19) is essentially one that celebrates the norm, the average, the mean -- "the normal is what is right" (168). This is encapsulated in Durkheim's shifting views about crime from 1893 to 1894. This was a conceptual not an empirical shift (173). What Durkheim shifted to was a functional explanation of social forms, such as crime or suicide, according to which these forms serve some social function. This functional explanation makes sense only under the auspices of normality. The best idea is: "two ideas were intertwined in Durkheim's early work: normality and functionalism" (171).
The best idea in chapter 21 is... statistical laws became autonomous (laws) when they could be used as explananations. Is autonomy here a synonym for stability? Statististics becomes a stable style of reasoning, stable in both the immense body of data produced but also in terms of the techniques (and practices).
The best idea in chapter 22 is... TBD.
