SOCI 330 Lecture Notes - Lecture 29: Collective Effervescence, Shared Belief, Totem
Document Summary
Outline: reminder of what he says about religion and comment, his views on socialism, durkheim"s reforms practical politics (in the transition period what are his reform: vies on education, prof"s comment. 1897: durkheim had a huge moment of illumination where he says you can only understand society if you understand the importance of religion . 1912: writes the elementary forms of religious life : the book is about australian totemism (tribal symbols, argument: in the simplest, you can see the essence of something. He says that religion is based upon a division between the sacred and the profane: in the church: you are not supposed to shout, something"s are forbidden. It is true of modern circumstances too: in the usa, burning the flag if the us is forbidden because it is sacred. Sacredness involves a certain particular sort of behavior, but profane does not.