The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (Oxford World's Classics) [ABRIDGED] (Paperback)

~ (Author), Mark S. Cladis (Editor), (Translator) "IN this book we propose to study the most primitive and simplest religion currently known, to analyse it and attempt to explain it..." (more)
Key Phrases: piacular rites, totemic species, totemic principle, The Elementary Forms, Robertson Smith, Religious Lile (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912), Emile Durkheim sets himself the task of discovering the enduring source of human social identity. He investigates what he considered to be the simplest form of documented religion - totemism among the Aborigines of Australia. For Durkheim, studying Aboriginal religion was a way 'to yield an understanding of the religious nature of man, by showing us an essential and permanent aspect of humanity'. The need and capacity of men and women to relate to one another socially lies at the heart of Durkheim's exploration, in which religion embodies the beliefs that shape our moral universe.
The Elementary Forms has been applauded and debated by sociologists, anthropologists, ethnographers, philosophers, and theologians, and continues to speak to new generations about the intriguing origin and nature of religion and society. This new, lightly abridged edition provides an excellent introduction to Durkheim's ideas.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; abridged edition edition (June 21, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192832557
• ISBN-13: 978-0192832559
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #416,950 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Elements of Religious Life - Durkheim, June 12, 2000

By	Victoria Bowhill (Britain) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (Paperback)

This book is a sociological text written by Durkheim. One of the forefathers of Sociology, he believed that to study sociology you must identify social phenomena and then trace it to its origins to see how it came about. This for Durkheim was the only way to understand society.

In this book he examines the origins of religion. He explains that religion develops from the collective feelings of security we gain from living in a group, and these feelings are very powerful and important to us. However, early tribes passed these feelings onto which ever object they were close to at the time of experiencing the emotions, or the most frequent object in their area. The object could include a plant, vegetable or an animal, which would then be represented in a carving of stone or wood and then worshipped. This for Durkheim is the beginning of totemism, the first religion.

He follows on to discuss how our first religion gave us an understanding of the world around us, our conception of space and time. For Durkheim 'the framework of our intelligence' is made up of the concepts of space, time, numbers and our existence, and they were born 'in religion'.

Durkheim's writing is suprisingly easy to read and very enjoyable. His examination of early societies gives much insight into their lives and how they understood the world to be. For anybody studying Durkheim, this book is a good topic area to concentrate on. However, for anybody interested in theology or in early societies, it is a fascinating read. I read this book as part of my degree course and, although I borrowed it from the library, even after my course has ended I am now buying my own copy to reread.

I recommend this book to a wide range of readers, not only those interested in sociology. Read it, you'll be suprised!

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars religion began from shared feelings of group security..., May 16, 2005

By	highduke (T.O, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (Paperback)

In this book Durkheim examines the origins of religion. He explains that religion developed from the collective feelings of security we gain from living in a group, and that these feelings are very powerful and important to us. Early tribes passed these feelings onto which ever object they were close to or the most frequent object in their area at the time of experiencing the emotions. The object could include a plant, vegetable or an animal, which would then be represented in a carving of stone or wood and then worshipped. This for Durkheim is the beginning of totemism, the first religion. He follows on to discuss how our first religion gave us an understanding of the world around us, our conception of space and time. For Durkheim 'the framework of our intelligence' is made up of the concepts of space, time, numbers and our existence, and they were born 'in religion'.

What emerges is no mere dry academic treatise, but an absolutely fascinating journey through topics such as the rain dances of the Pueblo Indians, the finger exercises of monkeys, and the hallucinations of alcoholics. Durkheim, of course, is the father of modern sociology and anthropology and even though sociology and anthropology have rejected many of his theories over the years he is still worth reading because the state of modern sociology and anthropology is polluted with all sorts of assumptions that are mostly politically correct eather than factually correct. The predominant belief that "we have come a long way since 1912" is completely misleading. Even though the fundamental assumption upon which Durkheim's work is based, that aboriginal practices are religion at its most basic and primitive, is no longer accepted as necessarily true - this theory was also current in Durkheim's time and he also discusses it over several chapters and effectively refutes it.

Durkheim's writing is suprisingly easy to read and very enjoyable. His examination of early societies gives much insight into their lives and how they understood the world to be. It's a fascinating read for anybody interested in human nature and early cultures. This is one of the three books that impacted me the most in my life.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WARNING: THIS EDITION IS ABRIDGED, June 1, 2008

By	Caraculiambro (La Mancha and environs) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

Durkheim's "Elementary Forms of the Religious Life" is one of the deepest books I've ever read, but I will leave others to speak of that.

I would like to complain about this particular edition, the "Oxford's World Classics" edition. (This review has apparently been published elsewhere. The edition I'm talking about is a yellow-and-red "Oxford's World's Classics" paperback with a black-and-white photo of Durkheim looking off to his left.)

I have long been looking to replace my worn-out edition, and thought this offering (published 2001) would answer nicely. (Is it just me, or has this book been plagued with editions that have flimsy binding?)

Unfortunately, Amazon buries an important piece of information in its "Editorial Reviews" section: this edition is abridged.

Now, it's lightly abridged. The original, which I have a hand, is only slightly longer than what you're getting here.

Which is what puzzles me: why did they bother to abridge this at all? Printing the entire text would only have added about 30 pages to the thing. The lines they have disincluded seem, at least upon my examination, no more irrelevant or abstruse than what they've decided to include.

Puzzling.

There are some good things about this edition, though. There are explanatory footnotes at the end of the text: useful glosses, not those "textual comparison" kind. (The footnotes on the bottom of each page are Durkheim's own.) There is a 29-page introduction. There is also an ethnographic map of Australia. But the biggest plus for me is that the (paperback) binding is super-sturdy and promises to last through many reads.

This is the translation by Carol Cosman, done in 2001 specifically for this edition.