Role and origin of religion - Durkheim (1915; 1962)

Durkheim (1915; 1962) - role of religion

• Make us feel part of something greater than ourselves

• Therefore invigorates and miotivates us to overcome obstacles we couldn’t otherwise

Durkheim (1915; 1962) - three major functions of religion

1. Social cohesion

2. Social control

3. Sense of purpose

Durkheim (1915; 1962) - key features of religion

• Sacred/profane distinction

• Totems

• Collective rituals/practices surrounding the sacred

The profane

• No special significance

• Mundane

The sacred

• Set apart

• Forbidden

• Inspire awe and fear

• Surrounded by taboos or prohibitions

• Unite believers into a single moral community

• Symbols of something representing a higher power (e.g. cross, star of David)

Worshipping the sacred = worshiping society

• The only thing powerful enough to evoke such feelings is society

  • Therefore worshiping sacred things is actually worshipping society

Totem

• Symbol of a religion

  • Symbolises origins and identity

Totem(ism)

• Worshipping a totem = worshipping society (although those who do are not aware)

• Inspires feelings of awe in the members because it represents the power of the group

  • Individuals are dependent on the group, hence its power

Arunta clan (Australia)

• Consists of bands of kin

• Periodically meet to perform rituals

  • E.g. workship of a sacred totem, the clan’s emblem

Collective conscience

• Shared norms/values/beliefs/knowledge that facilitate social life and cooperation

  • Represented by sacred symbols

  • Maintained by regular shared religious rituals

    • These strengthen the bonds between us

    • Remind individuals of the power of society

• Lack of collective conscience = disintegration of society

Durkheim and Mauss (1903; 2009) - cognitive functions of religion

• Creation of categories

• Categories = numbers, space, time, cause, substance

  • Categories are needed to think

    • To share thoughts, we need to have the same categories as others

• Categories provided by religion = human thought, reason, science

  • Without categories, the creation story etc. would not be able to be told and understood

    • E.g. the Creator (substance) created the world (substance) at the beginning of time (time)

• Division of clans into tribes = first classification

CRITICISM of Durkheim’s sacred and profane - Worsley (1956)

• Lack of sharp division between the two

  • E.g. a teapot may be sacred in one culture but not another

CRITICISM of Durkheim’s totemism - Worsley (1956)

• Different clans share the same totems

CRITICISM of Durkheim’s collective conscience - Mestrovic (2011) (post modernist)

• Applicability to contemporary society

• Increasing diversity has fragmented the collective conscience

  • There is no longer one single shared value system for religion to enforce