Durkheim on Religion

(notes and excerpts based on Durkheim, Emile. [1912] 1995. The Elementary Forms of
Religious Life. Translated by K. E. Fields. New York: The Free Press.)

1) Approach in Studying Religion

Durkheim states that he chose to study primitive societies—in this case Australian
aboriginals—because they “allow us to isolate the constituent elements of religion.”
Furthermore, he believes that in primitive religions, “the facts are simpler, [and] the
relations between them are more apparent” (P. 6). In continuity with his prior work, he
studies religion as a social fact. He asserts that “religion is an eminently social thing”
and that “religious representations are collective representations that express collective
realities” (p. 9). Thus he asserts the need to distinguish between religion as an individual
state and religion as a collective representation, with the former contingent on the latter.
As a collective representation, religion is to be studied not only through simple
empiricism, but also through the use of a priori categories.

2) General Characteristics of Religions

He observes that all religious beliefs have in common the classification of all
reality into two domains: the sacred and the profane. For Durkheim, this is
classification is totally heterogeneous, i.e. the distinction between the two is absolute.
Furthermore, he distinguishes religion from magic in that the latter does not bind its
adherents into one group or community of believers. He thus proposes the initial
definition for religion: “A religion 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 one single moral community called a Church, all those who believe in them”
(p. 44).

In order to understand religion as stipulated by his approach and definition above,

Durkheim first of all asserts that studying animism and naturism are inadequate. He
points out that “according to the animists, dreams were the starting point of religious
evolution [while] according to the naturists, certain cosmic manifestations were” (p. 84).
Sacredness had to have a more objective basis than the “hallucinatory representations” (p.
84) presented by both animism and naturism. This objective basis Durkheim suggests
can be studied in the cult of totemism.

Totemism has often been linked with societies organized according to clans (e.g.
Native Americans). Durkheim observes that in clan based societies, “things are classified
as sacred and profane by reference to the totem.” Thus the totem “is the very archetype
of sacred things” (p. 118). He suggests that the sacredness of the totem has one cause:
“It is the material representation of the clan” (p. 124). Furthermore, the totem can be
considered a bona fide religious form in that it represents “systems of ideas that tend to
embrace the universality of things and to give us a representation of the world as a
whole” (p. 141), i.e. it embodies a coherent “cosmology.”
 Durkheim distinguishes between individual and collective totemism. Collective
totemism, which is found well developed in primitive societies, is the primary form of
totemism, while individual cults or totems are “the collective cult adapted to the needs of
the individual” (p. 182). The essence of the totem and its import for religion is summed
up by Durkheim as follows: “Because religious force is none other than the collective
and anonymous force of the clan and because that force can only be conceived of in the
form of the totem, the totemic emblem is, so to speak, the visible body of the god” (p.
223).

The characteristics of the totem are representative of the notion of religion

forwarded by Durkheim: “[Religion] is first and foremost a system of ideas by means of
which individuals imagine the society of which they are members and the obscure yet
intimate relations they have with it” (p. 224). Religion then can be considered as being
akin to a collective conscience, of which society is the source.

3) Role of Cult and Rites

Since Durkheim believes that religion “is not only a system of practices but also a
system of ideas whose object is to express the world” (p. 430), it also gives rise to a
corresponding set of rituals which help make this expression possible. Rituals are
instrumental in differentiating the sacred and profane. Durkheim describes the cult as
“the sum total of means by which that faith is created and recreated faithfully” (p. 420).
It also helps “to maintain the vitality of those beliefs and to prevent their memory from
being obliterated … to revitalize the most essential elements of the collective
consciousness and conscience” (p. 379).