The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (French: Les formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse), published by the French sociologist Émile Durkheim in 1912, is a book that analyzes religion as a social phenomenon.Durkheim attributes the development of religion to the emotional security attained through communal living.This, Durkheim believed, led to the ascription of human sentiments and superhuman powers to these objects, in turn leading to totemism."[2] Durkheim concludes: In summing up, then, we must say that society is not at all the illogical or a-logical, incoherent and fantastic being which it has too often been considered.Being placed outside of and above individual and local contingencies, it sees things only in their permanent and essential aspects, which it crystallizes into communicable ideas.
FrenchsociologistÉmile DurkheimtotemicsacredAustralian AboriginalsPueblo Indianrain danceshallucinationsThe Division of Labour in SocietyThe Rules of Sociological MethodSuicideWikisourceInternet ArchiveLibriVoxL'Année SociologiqueSocial integrationCollective consciousnessMechanical and organic solidaritySocial factSociology of knowledgeSacred–profane dichotomyQuantitative methods in criminologyStatistical social researchCollective effervescenceAnomiePositivismHistory of sociology