Emile Durkheim: The Social as Sacred f f Freud is the nanre that comes first to
mind as the architect of psychoan-. Ialytic psychology, sornething similar can be ...
EmileDurkheim:TheSocialasSacred
f Freudis the nanrethat comesfirst to mind asthe architectof psychoanf Ialytic psychology,sornethingsimilar can be said of his Frenchcontemporary,Ernile Durkheim, a figure pivotal to the rise of scientilicsocioiogy. Durkheim (1858-1917)championedthe key role of societyin shaping everydimensionof human thought and behavior.His unique acirievement arisesfrom a determinationto examineail eiementsof human life-work and leisure,crime and punisl-rment, languageand logic, the selfand others, education,politics,the arts, and most especiallythe rituals and beliefsof religion-as inescapablysocialendeavors. The stresson societyand its influenceis famiiiar enoughtoday,when termslike "sociaimobility" and "socialreform'appeal in everyone's conversation.But that familiarifyitselfis a tributeto Durkl.reim.In his day,accolints of human belief and behaviortendedby defaultto be stronglyindividualistic.Durkheim disagreed.For him, humansdo not just exist;they belong. From the beginningof life, they are bound to communities:to a fan-rilyor clan,a town, a church,or a politicalparry.He sawthesesocialten-rplates and ties as so important that they need nothing lessthar-ra professionaldiscipline-sociology-specifically comrnittedto understar-iding ther-n. Durkheim wasborn in 1B5Bat Epinal,near Strasbourg in northeastern France.The son ofa rabbi, he was raised,like Freud,asa lew in a predominantly Roman Catholic city and nation. He was a brilliant student, who won a placeat the prestigior"rs EcoleNormale Superieurin Parisand later took a professorialappointmentat the Universityof Bordeaux,where a position was createdfor him. 'Ihere he pursuedan ambitiousprogram of sociologicalresearch,writing articlesand reviews,creatinga new scholarly journal, IiAneeSociologique, and publishing tl'rreebooks: TheDivision of (1897), Labor (1893),TheRulesof Sociological Method ( 1895),and StLicide the last an intriguing exploration of the social pressuresaffecting this deeplypersonalact ofdespair.
100
IntroducingReligion
Durkheim's scientific sociologywas new but not without roots. He had read Tyior and Frazer,and took inspiration from his own teacher, Numa Denys Fustel de Coulanges,whose acclaimedstudy, The Ancient City (I86a), stressedthe roie of religion in Greek and Roman communities. He aiso drew on earlier Frer-rchthinkers: Baron de Montesquieu frorn the ageof Enlightenment,the socialistSt. Simon, and the positivist AugusteComte.Frorntheir writings and others,Durkheim concludedthat the modern Westernworld is set apart from other,earliersocietiesby two nlomentolrsevents-the politicalearthquakeof tl-reFrenchRevolutionand the economictidal wave of the industrial revolution. In 1902Durkheim was appointedProfessorat the Universityof Paris, achievingthe pinnacleof academicprestigein France.While in that post, he devotedhis inquiries more directly to the theme of religion.The result, after ten yearsof labor, was the masterworkof his career:TheElementary Formsof theReligiousLife, publishedin 1912.The selectionsprovidedhere are taken frorn this book-now a classictext ir.rthe theory of religion. The title of TheElementaryFormsdisclosesits theme.Durkheim seeks to uncovercertainfundamentalunits,or building blocks,of religion-what he describesasits "everpresentcauses"in all placesand times.He doesnot believethat tl'resecausescan be found through the comparativemethod practicedby Tylor and Frazer,who drew on too many examplesfrom too many placesand cultures.Far better,he felt, to fix atter-rtionon just one primitive culture and draw from the on-scenereportsof peoplewho have taken time actuallyto immerse themselvesin its life. Suchaccountswere in fact availablein the carefulfield studiesthat had been preparedby two Englishanthropologists,Baldwin Spencerand F.j. Gillen, and otherswho had lived amongthe remoteAborgine peoplesof Australia.For Durkheim, one such "well made experiment" ofiered more value to sociologicalsciencethan all the tomes of Tylor and Frazercombined. Durkheirn departedfrom the Victorians,and from Freud,in another way.For irim the defining essentialof reiigion was not belief in spiritual, or supernatural,beings,but the distinction that all societiesmake between things sacredand things profane.The sacredis the realm of important matters,the greatconcernsthat affectthe life of the entirecommunity; the profane,in contrast,is the realm of things personaland private,the daily minor needsof the individual.Religionis the systemof beliefsand practicesrelatedto sacredthings, the vital issuesof the community; it should be distinguishedclearlyfrom an enterpriselike magic,whosemain interest is the rninor,petty interestsar-rdailmentsof ir-rdividuals. Durkheim noticed that at the centerof Aborigir-rereligion standsthe very thing that so fascinatedFreud: worship of the totem. Each of the
EnileDurkheint:.[heSocial asSacretl
l0l
Australian clans centersits rituals on a singre sacredfigure-'sualry an animal,occasiona'ya pla't-to wrrichit is eicl'sively attlched.rrr. iot.image standsat the centerof all its assernblies a'd governsalr aspectsof clanlife.It is surror-r'decr witl-rtaboos.whire ail othcranimarsca'be killed and eateir'the cra.'stotem may not-except o' special,sacredoccasrons whe' it is ritually sacrificed,and all .o.,r*'" rt ir a cerebratoryfeast.In simple terms we could say that an Aborigine clar.rworsl-rips it, tot",,-',t ut the.trutl.ris actuailymore sr-rbtle. For it i!'ot re:rllytlie toterl itserf-trre cockatielor frog or crow' seenas a divinity-that drawsthe worship of the clan. It is rather wrrat Dr-rrr
