Question 1(a) · 182 words written
1(a)
Opening · a definition
Durkheim equated Society to Religion. For him religion was a system of beliefs which separated the sacred and profane; the supernatural was said to be sacred to be kept separated and worshipped; even those who came in contact with sacred became sacred eg. priests.
Durkheim studied Arunta tribes; he derived his theory as such:
Body · points and prose
→ Tribes were filled with anxious and uncertain lifestyle. → Whenever they met, they together came across a feeling of exaltation also called as collective effervescence; it has been called in various societies as mana, heavenly dew etc.
→ This feeling was absent when the collectivity vanished; to reproduce, the tribes adopted some animal or spirit as their totem; which was a representation of feeling of collective effervescence. → Thus, when tribes worship the totem as sacred, they are worshiping the social solidarity they experience; they are actually worshipping society itself.
Close · a summary
However, Durkheim was criticised for narrow empiricism. He also failed to explain why religions change or how desacrilisation happens.
It cannot be ignored that he was one of the earliest to present a sociological understanding of religion.