How Does Durkheim Explain Society's Infatuation With Religion
For as long as humans have occupied this planet some form of religion has seem to accompany them. Curiosity of the unknown and explanations for things that seem difficult to explain have seemed to spark these ideas of religion. Emile Durkheim sets to explain how society’s infatuation with religion. The explanation of different forms of symbols, such as sacred and profane. With these explanations from Durkheim and how he sets to describe the idea of religion, it is relatively safe to say religion can come from anything. In modern society there are many things that can be elevated to the status of sacred. Society takes many of these symbols that can be profane and turn them into sacred symbols in the right context. In Durkheim’s The Elementary
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Believing in something greater than ourselves, believing that if our physical being will no longer exist at least this entity will continue has been the belief of many civilizations. “It is because he feels within him an abnormal over-supply of force which overflows and tries to burst out from him; sometimes he even has the feeling that he is dominated by a moral force which is greater than he and of which he is the only interpreter” (Durkheim, 1912). Durkheim was trying to explain how people try and explain the unexplainable such as the “Holy Spirit” or “Demon Possession”. When a person has too large of a force within them and the group around them can not come to a logical conclusion for where this is coming from, they seek to over simplify and say it is from a “spirit”. Durkheim said that this was actually the presence of being amongst a social atmosphere that brought out unexplainable feelings from deep within an individual. This is also known as a type embodied intoxication, “Such religious congregations constitute ‘an exceptionally powerful stimulant’, an intoxicating excess that fills the individual to ‘overflowing, as though with a phenomenal oversupply of forces that spill over’ and ‘spread around’ the body subject” (Shilling & Mellor, 2011). To go against this status quo of a particular society and their views on religion is abnormal. Religion, and everything that comes along with it is a social fact according to Durkheim. This means that it is a large scale force that effects many peoples lives, for instance religion is and has been one of the biggest factors for violence through out
Believing in something greater than ourselves, believing that if our physical being will no longer exist at least this entity will continue has been the belief of many civilizations. “It is because he feels within him an abnormal over-supply of force which overflows and tries to burst out from him; sometimes he even has the feeling that he is dominated by a moral force which is greater than he and of which he is the only interpreter” (Durkheim, 1912). Durkheim was trying to explain how people try and explain the unexplainable such as the “Holy Spirit” or “Demon Possession”. When a person has too large of a force within them and the group around them can not come to a logical conclusion for where this is coming from, they seek to over simplify and say it is from a “spirit”. Durkheim said that this was actually the presence of being amongst a social atmosphere that brought out unexplainable feelings from deep within an individual. This is also known as a type embodied intoxication, “Such religious congregations constitute ‘an exceptionally powerful stimulant’, an intoxicating excess that fills the individual to ‘overflowing, as though with a phenomenal oversupply of forces that spill over’ and ‘spread around’ the body subject” (Shilling & Mellor, 2011). To go against this status quo of a particular society and their views on religion is abnormal. Religion, and everything that comes along with it is a social fact according to Durkheim. This means that it is a large scale force that effects many peoples lives, for instance religion is and has been one of the biggest factors for violence through out