SOC 3113 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Asteroid Family, Christian Symbolism, Friedrich Engels
Document Summary
Sacred = set apart as extraordinary, inspiring awe and reverence; deemed particularly important through religious and spiritual rituals. Profane = ordinary elements of everyday life. Objects not intrinsically sacred or profane: meaning/classification continually produced, reproduced, and/or altered in collective processes of ritualization and symbolization. Religion and society: society as religion. Durkheim modern application: randal collins interaction ritual chains. Communal function of religion: dual processes of ritualization and symbolization. Ritual = highly routinized act, patterned sequence of behavior: create and reinvigorate group"s moral boundaries and identity. Symbol = something that stands for something else: representation that calls up collective ideas and meanings. Collective effervescence = high levels of emotional energy shared by group members. Varies by: degree of common focus of attention, common emotional mood, physical co-presence. More likely to last if it is given a symbol that represents the high level of emotion: sacred symbols.
