sociology of religion: durkheim
Religion is an expression of our collective consciousness, which is the fusion of all of our individual consciousnesses, which then creates a reality of its own. It refers to those practices which people are obliged not to follow or practise. Durkheim choose this group because he felt they represented the most basic, elementary forms of religion within a culture. It follows, then, that less complex societies, such as the Australian Aborigines, have less complex religious systems, involving totems associated with particular clans. According to Tylor, animism is essentially a belief in the spirit of the dead. Positive practices refer to those which people are obliged to follow. (d) Durkheim held that the origin and cause of religion lie in social domain and have nothing to do with sentiments of the individual. 
A religious group or individual is influenced by all kinds of things, he says, but if they claim to be acting in the name of religion, we should attempt to understand their perspective on religious grounds first. Michel Foucault was a post-structuralist who saw human existence as being dependent on forms of knowledge discourses that work like languages. 
Nineteenth-century rationalist writers, reflecting the evolutionist spirits of their times, tended to explain the lack of rationality and the dominance of false beliefs in pre-modern worlds in terms of the deficient mental equipment of their inhabitants. The model considers not only the changing number of people with certain beliefs, but also attempts to assign utility values of a belief in each nation. Like those of Plato and Aristotle from ancient Greece, and Enlightenment philosophers from the 17th through 19th centuries, the ideas posited by these sociologists continue to be examined today. This is the case as with the advent of modernity, religious meaning making has shifted more into the individual domain. [41], BBC News reported on a study by physicists and mathematicians that attempted to use mathematical modelling (nonlinear dynamics) to predict future religious orientations of populations. In general, those aspects of social life given moral superiority or reverence are considered sacred and all other aspects are part of the profane. Christiano, Kevin J., et al., (2nd ed., 2008), Pickel, Gert, and Olaf Mller, eds. Luckmann points instead to the "religious problem" which is the "problem of individual existence." 
Thus later sociologists of religion (notably Robert Neelly Bellah) have extended Durkheimian insights to talk about notions of civil religion, or the religion of a state. They are often high-tension movements that antagonize their social world and/or are antagonized by it.[19][23]. This objective investigation may include the use both of quantitative methods (surveys, polls, demographic and census analysis) and of qualitative approaches (such as participant observation, interviewing, and analysis of archival, historical and documentary materials).[1]. "[5], Central to Marx's theories was the oppressive economic situation in which he dwelt. But while these two categories are rigidly defined and set apart, they interact with one another and depend on each other for survival. This is true not only for the Aborigines, he argues, but for all societies. He also acknowledges that other forms of belief and meaning, such as those provided by art, music, literature, popular culture (a specifically modern phenomenon), drug taking, political protest, and so on are important for many people. The theory of animism is the work of E.B. As societies come in contact with other societies, there is a tendency for religious systems to emphasize universalism to a greater and greater extent. However, as the division of labour makes the individual seem more important (a subject that Durkheim treats extensively in his famous The Division of Labour in Society), religious systems increasingly focus on individual salvation and conscience. Durkheims emphasis on figured representations of the totems is questionable, since most of the totems are not so represented. Secularism is the general movement away from religiosity and spiritual belief towards a rational, scientific, orientation, a trend observed in Muslim and Christian industrialized nations alike. 1. This continuum includes several additional types. [42][43], Thomas Luckmann maintains that the sociology of religion should cease preoccupations with the traditional and institutionalized forms of religion. Most of the anthropologists believe that the concept of animism is fundamental to all religion. Hence primitive men had to keep the ancestral ghosts in good humour if they were to act in his behalf. Religion is too permanent, too profound an experience not to correspond to a true reality; and this true reality is not God, then it must be the reality so to speak, immediately below God, namely society. 
4. In the Australian tribes studied by Durkheim the totem is represented in various ways. 'Reading Opium of the People: Expression, Protest and the Dialectics of Religion'. According to Durkheim, religion is something eminently social. durkheim emile biography childhood credit thefamouspeople profiles Before publishing your articles on this site, please read the following pages: 1. Spencer said that the deceased tribal leaders of great power came to be eventually worshipped as gods. They come into existence when churches lose their religious monopoly in a society. Emile Durkheim has studied the Arunta tribes of Australian aborigines. According to Goldenweiser, Durkheims theory is one sided and psychologically untenable. [13] Therefore, all societies have forms of knowledge that perform this psychological task. Belief systems are seen as encouraging social order and social stability in ways that rationally based knowledge cannot. Note that sociologists give these words precise definitions which differ from how they are commonly used. (iv)Finally, religion has a euphoric functions in that it serves to counteract feelings of frustration and loss of faith and certitude by re-establishing the believers sense of well being, their sense of the essential Tightness of the moral world of which they are a part. 
In animism religious beliefs are held to be beliefs in spirits, these spirits being the transfiguration of the experience of men have of their two fold nature of body and soul. Official doctrine held that one could not ever really know whether one was among the elect. "[9] This is a functional definition of religion, meaning that it explains what religion does in social life: essentially, it unites societies. To define religion, he says, we must first free the mind of all preconceived ideas of religion. In-spite of the above criticisms, sociology of Religion of Emile Durkheim is very much appreciated by the sociologists. He has engaged in a long debate with those who dispute the secularization thesis, some of which argue that the traditional religions, such as church-centered ones, have become displaced by an abundance of non-traditional ones, such as cults and sects of various kinds. 
Durkheims generalization can be conclusively stated as below: 1. (ii) In cohesive function religious ceremonies bring people together and thus serve to reaffirm their common bonds and to reinforce social solidarity. Two older approaches to globalization include modernization theory, a functionalist derivative, and world-systems theory, a Marxist approach. Religion, Marx held, was a significant hindrance to reason, inherently masking the truth and misguiding followers. Durkheims views are relevant to primitive society; where integration of social institutions and culture is more pronounced. His work is in the tradition of Max Weber, who saw modern societies as places in which rationality dominates life and thought. [16] People do not believe in God, practice magic, or think that witches cause misfortune because they think they are providing themselves with psychological reassurance, or to achieve greater social cohesion for their social groups.[17]. Existential questions about the mysteries of human existence, about who we are and why we are here, have become less and less significant. Sects are high-tension organizations that don't fit well within the existing social environment. 
The clan is a human group, the simplest of all, which expresses its identity by associating itself with a plant or animal, with a genus or species of plant or animal. [citation needed] For example, practising Catholics tend to have larger families[45] This collective sharing of beliefs, rituals etc. His duty was to know the problem of the society. emile durkheim [33] 3. (1972) On the Study of Religious Commitment in J. E. Faulkner (ed.) The job of the historian is to chart these changes and identify the reasons for them. This points to the falsity of the secularization theory. Content Guidelines 2. In fact his ideas later contributed to the formation of sociological theory of religion. Belief refers to a type of conviction, making the people to do or accept which otherwise they shall not do or shall not accept. Still others suggest that functional alternatives to traditional religion, such as nationalism and patriotism, have emerged to promote social solidarity. Tylor argued that early men had a need to explain dreams, shadows, hallucinations, sleep and death. [21] This type of religious bodies are more world affirming, so they try to peacefully coexist with the secular world and are low-tension organizations. In coming to the view of the universal distinction of the sacred and the profane, Durkheim believed he had validated his theory of moral authority. But this force remains ever present, living and true to itself. One of the most important functions of religion, from a functionalist perspective, is the opportunities it creates for social interaction and the formation of groups. For instance, some sociologists have argued that steady church attendance and personal religious belief may coexist with a decline in the influence of religious authorities on social or political issues. For example he dreamt of a hunting adventure which resulted in his taking home the hunted animal and enjoying fine dinner. For example, normality and deviance became more of a matter of health and illness than of good and evil, and the physician took over from the priest the role of defining, promoting, and healing deviance. This is because, for Gellner, such alternatives to science are profoundly insignificant since they are technically impotent, as opposed to science. Durkheims book Elementary forms of Religious life is devoted to elaborating a general theory of religion derived from an analysis of the simplest, most primitive religious institutions. 
This along with the rationalism implied by monotheism led to the development of rational bookkeeping and the calculated pursuit of financial success beyond what one needed simply to live and this is the "spirit of capitalism". From this perspective, the existence of non-rational accounts of reality can be explained by the benefits they offer to society. Multidimensional Approach to Religion: a way of looking at religious phenomena. Durkheim, Marx, and Weber had very complex and developed theories about the nature and effects of religion. [36], Peter Berger observed that while researchers supporting the secularization theory have long maintained that religion must inevitably decline in the modern world, today, much of the world is as religious as ever. In his magnum opus Economy and Society Weber distinguished three ideal types of religious attitudes:[12]. (e) In his theory Durkheim failed to give the weight-age to individual and emotional aspects of religion. durkheim emile sociology presentation ppt powerpoint weber marx theory slideserve agenda contributions objective understand its slide1 schedule discussion field They were part of rites, objects of reverence or simply behaviors deemed special by religious beliefs. 
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sociology of religion: durkheim