Émile Durkheim’s The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life set forth one of the most influential and enduring theories in the sociology of religion. Provide an
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Ans: Varies. Durkheim argued that totemism was the most primitive form of religion. Example: some Native Americans placed sacred status on the bison; body and blood of Christ through wafer and wine in Catholicism. During sacred rituals and ceremonies, people experience heightened emotional awareness and a spiritual connection with divine forces and other members of the community. They lose their sense of individuality and merge with the larger group. The sacred is the group, endowed with divine powers and purpose. By worshipping the sacred, society worships itself, becoming stronger and more cohesive as a result. Durkheim believed the sacred was disappearing from modern industrial society, but we could create secular forms of religion with the same function.
KEY: Learning Objective: 13.2: Apply classical and contemporary sociological perspectives to analyze the place of religion in human societies.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: The Classical View: Religion, Society, and Secularization
Difficulty Level: Hard
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