The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life [Paperback]

Emile Durkheim (Author), Joseph Ward Swain (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 4, 2008

In this 1912 classic, a founder of modern sociology examines animism, naturism, totemism, myth, and ritual. Durkheim maintains that the source of religion and morality lies in collective consciousness, rather than in individual minds. His intriguing views are still a topic of debate among sociologists, anthropologists, ethnographers, philosophers, and theologians.

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (April 4, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486454568
• ISBN-13: 978-0486454566
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #134,713 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #58 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Other Practices > Tribal & Ethnic

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic sociological study of religion as a social phenomenon, November 14, 2011

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This review is from: The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (A Free Press Paperback) (Paperback)

The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life published by 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.

According to Durkheim, early humans associated such feelings not only with one another, but with objects in their environment. This, Durkheim believed, led to the ascription of human sentiments and superhuman powers to these objects, in turn leading to totemism. The essence of religion, Durkheim finds, is the concept of the sacred, that being the only phenomenon which unites all religions. "A religion," writes Durkheim, "is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden - beliefs and practices which unite into a single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them."[1] In modern societies, the individual and individual rights evolve to become the new sacred phenomena, and hence these may be called "religious" for Durkheim.

Durkheim examined religion using such examples as Pueblo Indian rain dances, the religions of aboriginal tribes in Australia, and alcoholic hallucinations.