Explanation:

- Option 1: Durkheim

- Emile Durkheim argued that social facts (customs, laws, norms) exist outside individuals and are independent of personal feelings.

- He claimed we should look for the origins of a social fact in other social facts, not in individual psychology.

- Famous for treating society as a reality of its own, above individuals.

- Option 2: Weber

- Max Weber focused on individual meanings behind social actions and “verstehen” (understanding).

- He did not stress that causes of social facts must be sought among previous social facts.

- Option 3: Parsons

- Talcott Parsons was a functionalist who developed a broad system theory, integrating Durkheim and Weber but not the direct source of this quote.

- Option 4: Merton

- Robert K. Merton is known for theories like role-set and strain theory, but he did not make the argument above.