Analysis
Last Updated on June 19, 2019, by eNotes Editorial. Word Count: 157
Download The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life Study Guide
The Elementary Forms of Religious Life extends Durkheim's past work in the tradition of French sociology, applying the field's concepts to religion. He casts religion as a purely social phenomenon which developed as a way of providing people with group identification and emotional security, not unlike the benefits of group living.
One of Durkheim's central analyses is about the totem, which is the term for any material object of worship. He argues that totems are made to stand in for the societies worshipping them, symbolizing a social unity. Holding that the totem stands in both for the society and its god, he argues that through substitution, the society becomes its own god.
Finally, viewing most social constructs as predicated on totemic substitution, Durkheim asserts that totems are the primary vehicle for inscribing new symbols to the collective unconscious. The collective unconscious is therefore the most capacious body of knowledge that humans can possess about their social realities.
Cite this page as follows:
"The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life - Analysis" eNotes Publishing Ed. eNotes Editorial. eNotes.com, Inc. eNotes.com 15 Aug. 2022 <https://www.enotes.com/topics/elementary-forms-religious-life/in-depth#in-depth-analysis-833290>
Note: When citing an online source, it is important to include all necessary dates. The citation above will include either 2 or 3 dates.
- If there are three dates, the first date is the date of the original publication in traditional print. The second is the date of publication online or last modification online. The last date is today's date — the date you are citing the material.
- If there are two dates, the date of publication and appearance online is the same, and will be the first date in the citation. The second date is today's date — the date you are citing the material.
