Emile Durkheim on Religion. Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. Durkheimian theory of religion

What is primary: religious ideas or religious rituals? In his The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (1912) Emile Durkheim proposed a revolutionary theory about the nature of religion. He wanted to understand: What is religion? Why has it been so important and central in human affairs? What does it do for both the individual and society? Today it is considered to be one of the most popular definitions of religion. To find out the strengths and weaknesses of such a theory, please watch the video review.
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Bibliography/Recommended Reading:
Émile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, tr. Joseph Ward Swain (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1915), p. 419.
Durkheim, Émile. Suicide: A Study in Sociology. Translated by J. A. Spaulding and G. Simpson. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, [1897] 1951.
Daniel L. Pals. 2006. Eight Theories of Religion. Oxford University Press.
Pickering, W. S. F., ed. Durkheim on Religion. Translated by Jacqueline Redding. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1975. Presents selections from Durkheim’s original works on religion along with selected reviews by other scholars, including some of the very earliest assessments of The Elementary Forms.
Dr. Heerikhuizen of the University of Amsterdam: • 6.7 The Elementary For...
Ronald Inglehart (2021). Religion's Sudden Decline: What's Causing it and What Comes Next. Oxford UP.
Mircea Eliade. 1987. The Sacred and The Profane: The Nature of Religion.
#durkheim #sociology_of_religion #theory_of_religion
Please note that the Association of Social Anthropologists issued a statement where they "condemn the use of terms like 'stone age' and 'primitive' to describe tribal and indigenous peoples alive today".
The terms “primitive culture” / “primitive people” were used in older anthropology texts and discussions to describe indigenous societies. The term is no longer used due to its inherent racist and ethnocentric undertones.

[@religiologEng]

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[@VCTRTRV]

Thanks!

[@americameinyourmouth9964]

Durkheim has taken a strict behavioralist view even before its introduction in the 20th century. That social practices determine belief is to assert we act without thought then justify our actions. Like a herd of animals reacting to others actions to harmonize group behavior. But we are more than behavior we are also cognition. Clearly we plan, organize and justify religious events not merely spontaneously perform mimesis. There must be a form of monism here of interplay of forces of the social and belief, like nature and nurture. We are after all in the age of eclecticism.
But what came first? I thought about burials, being the earliest cultural commonality of humans roughly 50k yrs ago. Did we bury loved ones first to protect from scavengers and predators smelling them and then after the burial create a religious justification of the act? Or was the body and funerary objects sacred and thus needed entombment to protect the sacred body with survival as a side benefit? Or did people think of these two things (survival benefits and sacredness of loved ones) at the same time? Meaning the two forces are inseparable and in continous tension and in balance simultaneously.

[@religiologEng]

Thank you for this detailed and well-though comment. A lot to think about.

[@charlottecool7080]

thank you!💯

[@religiologEng]

Thank you for watching! Please check other videos

[@philosoffoma7432]

Emil good

[@ljubisavukovic8153]

Thank you for this video! I recently finished reading the book and I'm very thankful for this analysis, especially because you also included Durkheim's views on religion from his other works such as Suicide, which I have yet to read. I will have 2 courses related to sociology of religion in my next semester, so I also bought Eight theories in religion after watching this video, as I understand it would be perfect for the topic.

[@religiologEng]

Thank you for the feedback. It's always nice to hear that your work is appreciated by others and helps others. Best wishes with your courses.