SOCI 350 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Christian Symbolism, Totem, Collective Effervescence
Document Summary
How community cohesion and morality is reproduced and ensured. Society has a reality of itself or is a supra-individual force that acts on its members. Focused on shared symbols and representaions of the world. Shared meaning of what exists in the world. Collecive representaions are used to explain religion and categories of knowledge. Categories of understanding as collecive: 247 in so far as he belongs to society, the individual transcends himself, Disinguish between everyday and revered or sacred. Sacred the special separate from everyday life. A uniied system of beliefs and pracices relaive to sacred things, that is to say, things apart and forbidden beliefs and pracices which unite into one single moral community called church, all those who adhere to them (durkheim) Australian totemism and the elementary forms of religion. Totems sign of a paricular clan and also sacred symbol. The totem represents the moral and collecive force of society. A force superior and transcendent over the individual.
