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This article reviews Durkheim’s three unsuccessful attempts to obtain a chair in sociology at the Collège de France (1897, 1900 and 1905). We try to understand why these failed, by looking at the support received by his competitors (Izoulet, Tarde, Bergson) and at ties with Collège networks (Jullian). Symmetrically, Durkheim benefited from alliances and support for his election to the Sorbonne (1902), inside a philosophical and rather Dreyfusard commission. In addition, the indefectible support of Buisson – who wanted Durkheim personally to replace him – was decisive. We emphasize both the composition of the commissions reconstituted for the occasion and the presentation of the competitors. These two elements are essential to understand the failures and success of Durkheim and his sociology. The article ends with a little exercise in uchronia: what would have happened to sociology if Durkheim had been elected in 1897 to the Collège de France?