EmileDurkheim: The Social as Sacred

f Freudis the nanrethat comesfirst to mind asthe architectof psychoan- f Ialytic psychology,sornething similar can be said of his Frenchcontem- porary,Ernile Durkheim, a figurepivotal to the rise of scientilicsocioiogy. Durkheim (1858-1917)championed the key role of societyin shaping everydimension of human thought and behavior.His uniqueacirievement arisesfrom a determinationto examineail eiementsof human life-work and leisure,crime and punisl-rment,language and logic,the selfand others, education,politics, the arts, and most especiallythe rituals and beliefsof religion-as inescapablysocial endeavors. The stresson societyand its influenceis famiiiar enoughtoday, when termslike "sociaimobility" and "socialreform'appeal in everyone'sconver- sation.But that familiarifyitself is a tributeto Durkl.reim.In his day,accolints of human belief and behaviortended by defaultto be stronglyindividual- istic.Durkheim disagreed.For him, humansdo not just exist;they belong. From the beginningof life, they arebound to communities:to a fan-rilyor clan,a town, a church,or a politicalparry. He sawthese social ten-rplates and ties as so important that they need nothing lessthar-r a professionaldisci- pline-sociology-specifically comrnittedto understar-idingther-n. Durkheim wasborn in 1B5Bat Epinal,near Strasbourg in northeast- ern France.The son ofa rabbi, he was raised,like Freud,as a lew in a pre- dominantly Roman Catholic city and nation. He was a brilliant student, who won a placeat the prestigior"rsEcole Normale Superieurin Parisand later took a professorialappointment at the Universityof Bordeaux,where a position was createdfor him. 'Iherehe pursuedan ambitiousprogram of sociologicalresearch, writing articlesand reviews,creating a new scholarly journal, IiAneeSociologique, and publishing tl'rreebooks: TheDivision of Labor (1893),The Rules of SociologicalMethod ( 1895),and StLicide (1897), the last an intriguing exploration of the social pressuresaffecting this deeplypersonal act ofdespair. 100 IntroducingReligion EnileDurkheint: .[he Socialas Sacretl l0l

Durkheim's scientific sociologywas new but not without roots. He Australian clans centersits rituals on a singresacred figure-'sualry an had read Tyior and Frazer,and took inspiration from his own teacher, animal,occasiona'y a pla't-to wrrichit is eicl'sively attlched.rrr. iot.- Numa Denys Fustelde Coulanges,whose acclaimedstudy, The Ancient image standsat the centerof all its assernbliesa'd governsalr aspectsof City (I86a), stressedthe roie of religion in Greek and Roman commu- clanlife. It is surror-r'decr witl-rtaboos. whire ail othcranimars ca'be killed nities. He aiso drew on earlier Frer-rchthinkers: Baron de Montesquieu and eateir'the cra.'stotem may not-except o' special,sacred occasrons frorn the ageof Enlightenment,the socialistSt. Simon, and the positivist whe' it is ritually sacrificed, and all .o.,r*'" rt ir a cerebratoryfeast. In AugusteComte. Frorn their writings and others,Durkheim concludedthat simple terms we could saythat an Aborigine clar.rworsl-rips it, tot",,-',t ut the modern Westernworld is setapart from other,earlier societies by two the.trutl.ris actuaily more sr-rbtle.For it i!'ot re:rllytlie toterl itserf-trre nlomentolrsevents-the politicalearthquake of tl-reFrench Revolution and cockatielor frog or crow' seenas a divinity-that drawsthe worship of the the economictidal wave of the industrial revolution. clan. It is rather wrrat Dr-rrrtimes.He doesnot puzzle of primitive society fit natura'y into place.tt'r. Iot.,o symbol, believethat tl'resecauses can be found through the comparativemethod carvedi'wood or stone, conveys're permanerceof the socialcolnn-ru- practicedby Tylor and Frazer,who drew on too many examplesfrom too rity; totemismprovides systemso1'order ar.rcl classification, co'recti'g many placesand cultures.Far better,he felt, to fix atter-rtionon just one personsto clans ancl dividing clars fror.r.reach other; totemism .*plnin, primitive culture and draw from the on-scenereports of peoplewho have both the idea and immortarity of the sour;the sor-rlis "the cra' within., taken time actuallyto immerse themselvesin its life. Suchaccounts were eachindividual, calling for the denial of the bovalue to sociologicalsci- powerand prestige, they become gods. encethan all the tomesof Tylor and Frazercombined. In the lastpart of his discussion - Du'kheinl tllrnsfrom beriei'sto riLu- Durkheirn departedfrom the Victorians,and from Freud,in another als' Rituals in his view are more centrarto rerigio' trran beriefs,whicr.r way.For irim the defining essentialof reiigion invariably was not belief in spiritual, changefiom one tirne or place to tlie next. Rituals ;,-" ;".- or supernatural,beings, but the distinction that all societiesmake between formed i' two main types of cult-trre positivearcr r.regative-plusa tirird things sacredand things profane.The sacredis the realm of important calledpiacular. Taboos, or prohibitior.rs,are the crrief iristance. orr,,.gnii* matters,the greatconcerns that affectthe life of the entirecommunity; the ritr-ral'They stress the importanceof self-sacrificeover ,"lf i,-rd,,d;;.", profane,in contrast,is the realm of things personaland private,the daily placir-rgthe good of the clanfirst, the interests of sclfseco'd Th. ;;;;*" minor needsof the individual.Religion is the systemof beliefsand prac- cult is illustratedi' the greatintichiur?rd ceremony, wrrere religious senti- ticesrelated to sacredthings, the vital issuesof the community; it should ment rllns deepand e'rotionshigh, and individu.lsr-enew their cornmit- be distinguishedclearly from an enterpriselike magic,whose main interest ment to the life a'rd l.realthof the cl:r.. Simirarly,o'the solenrnoccasion is the rninor,petty interestsar-rd ailments of ir-rdividuals. of piacularrites, l-reld at times of c'isis o, death, t. j;; Durkheim noticed that at the centerof Aborigir-rereligion standsthe private act. Its purpose is to 'rou'ring ";; " grieve the loss,and repair tlie"in;ury,io ihe very thing that so fascinatedFreud: worship of the totem. Each of the coinmunity. t02 lntroducingReligion EmileDurkheim: TheSocial as Sacred 103 "elementary in the end, saysDurkheim, all of the truly forms" of relt- AII known religious beriefs,wirether simple or comprex,present one com- gion can be found on displayin the totemismof Australianprimitive cul- mon characteristic:they presupposea crassificationor an the things, reara'd ture: the separationof sacredfrom profane,the social aim and purpose ideal,of which men think, into two classesor opposedgroups, g.n.".utty a.rig_ of worship, the ideas of the soui, conscienqe,and immortality, belief in r. natedby two distinct termswhich aretranslatei w"ll .riough b/tlr" *ora, pro- ancestralspirits and gods,and the basicforms of ritual. In and through all andsacred (profane, fane sacre?).This division of the worli inio two domains, of theseaspects, it is apparentthat the entire tapestryof religion is in its the one containing all that is sacred,the otrrer all that is profane,is the dis- essencesocial. Its real nature is not to make claimsabout the existenceof tinctivetrait of religious thought; the beliefs,my,ths, dogmas and iegendsare gods,forgiveness of sins,or life afterdeath. For all of theseare simply sym- i, eitherrepresentations or systemsof representationswhiih expresstte bolic representationsof profoundlysociai needs and sentiments.Religion's of sacredthings, the virtues and powerswhich are attributedto trrem, 'ature true role is not to bring peopleto a god or offerthem salvationin a realm or trreir relationswith each other and with profane : things. But by sacredthings or:re beyond;it is rather to anchorthem, hereand now in the clan,the commu- mustnot understandsimpry those personalbeings which are called gods or nitythat shapesand sustainstheir lives. spirits;a rock, a tree,a spring, a pebble,a pieceof wood, a house,i'I word, The originality of this argumentas Durkheim patientlydevelops it in an)'thingcan be sacred. A rite can havethis character;in fact,the rite doesnot TheElementary Forms lies not just in its inventiveaccount of religion as existwhich does haveit to a certain degree....The circleof sacredobjects both mirror and templateof a primitive society,but in the unusuallyvari- cannotbe determined,'ot then, once for ail. Its extentvaries inf itery,according ous and fertile applicationsit offersfor discerningthe role of religion in to thedifferent religions. That is how Buddhism is a religion:in crefaurtof gods, societiesof other placesand times,including our own. it admitsthe existence of sacredthings, namely,the four noble truths and the practicesderived from them. up to the present we have confined ourservesto enumeratinga certaln DefiningReligion: The Sacred and the Profane numberof sacredthings asexampres: we rrrustnow showby what ge"neralchar- acteristicsthey areto be distinguishedfrom profanethings. Thefollowing seriesof selectionstraces the architectureof Durkheim'sargument, One might be tempted, .,, first of all, to define th"m Ly the place they are beginningfromhis distinctivedef.nition of religionin termsof thesacred and profane generallyassigned I in the hierarchy of things. They are naturaily considered and continuingthrough his selectionof Aborigineculture as his testcase, his discus- superiorin dignity and power to profanethings, and particularlyto man, when sion of the soul, immortality, and asceticism,his accountof the rise of thegods, and heis only a man and has nothing sacredabo'ut him. one thinks of himserfas finally his addressto the importanceof rituals:positive, negative, and piacular. occupyingan inferior and dependentposition in relatio' to them; and surely thisconception is not without sometruth. onry there is nothing in it whicrr is f) eiigiousphenomena are naturailyarranged in two fundamentalcategories: reallycharacteristic of the sacred. Ab"li.fr and rites. The first are statesof opinion, and consistin representa- on the other hand, i" . it must not be lost to view tl-ratthere are sacred things tions; the secondare determined modes of action.Between these two classesof o1."...{ degree,and that thereare some in rerationto which a man factsthere is all the differencewhich separatesthought from action. feelsrrimserf relativelyat his ease.An amulet has a sacreclcharacter, practices, yet the respectwhich The rites can be defined and distinguishedfrom other human t exceprionat. Evenbefore1-lis gods, a man is ,rot always,n moral practices,for example,only by the specialnature of their object.A moral ir i suchl.iTlt::::l,"lftlga n-iarked state of inferiority; for it very frequentlyhappens that he exer_ rule prescribescertain manners of actingto us,just asa rite does,but which are i cisesa.veritable physicar constraintupon them to obtain what he desires.He addressedto a differentclass of objects.So it is the objectof the rite which must , beatsthe fetich with which he is not contented,but onry to reconcirehimserf be characterized,if we are to characterizethe rite itself.Now it is in the beliefs with it again,if in the end it showsitself rnore dociieto the qfthis wishesof its aclorer. that the specialnature objectis expressed.it is possibleto definethe ritel haverain, he throws stones-into i'To the spring or sacredrake where trre god of only afterwe havedeflned the belief. i rainis thought to resrcre; he beiievesthaiuy rii, rreforces him to come outand showhimself. -.un, , Moreover,if it is true that man depe'ds upo' his gods, pnou: TfreElementary Forms of the Religiouslfe. Translatedby Ioseph Ward Swain. 'this dependenceis reciprocal. The gods also haveneed of man; without offer_ London:George Allen & Unwinn Ltd.,[1912] 1915. l ,rlingsand sacrifices theywould die. we shall evenhave occasionto showthat 104 IntroducingReligion EntileDurkheim: The Social as Sacred i05

' turn, this dependenceof the gods upon their worshippersis maintainedeven in the arernore or lessincompatible with eachother. But the real characte.stic of religiousphenome'a most idealisticreligions. is that they alwayssuppose a bipartitedivision of the generaland wholeuniverse, But if a purelyhier.archic distinction is a criterium at oncetoo known and ihistory the representationswhich expressthe nature of sacredthings and profoundly therelations thought thereexists no othel exampleof two categoriesof thingsso which they sustain,either with ei.rchother or with profa.e i.rir.,gr. rinally, differentiatedor so radically opposedto or-reanother. The traditional opposi- rites are the rules of cor-rductwhich prescribehow ir'an should co^- tion of good and bad is notl-ringbeside this; for tl-regood and bad areonly two porthimself in the presenceof thesesacred objects.... opposedspecies of the samec1ass, narnely morals. ' . . However,tl-ris definiLion is ror yct cornplete,for it is cqr-rallyapplicable totwo The two worlds are not only conceivedof as separate,but as evenhostile sortsof factswl-rich, while beingrelated to eachothcr, must t . airti,.,_ and jealousrivals of eachother. Sincemen cannotfully belongto one excepton guishednevertheless: these are magic and religion. them- condition of leavingthe other completely,they areexhorted to witl.rdraw Magic'too, is rnadeup of beriefsand rites.Like religion,it has its rnyths reli- andits dogrnas; selvescompletely from the profaneworld, in order to lead an exclusively or.rlytl.rey are n-ioreelementary, u'croubteclly because, seek- ingtechnical giouslife. Hence comes the monasticismwhich is artiliciallyorganized outside and utilitarianends, it doesnot wasteits^time in pure specula_ the tion.It of and apartfrom the natural environmentin whicl-rthe ordinary n.ranleads has its ceremor"ries,sacrifices, lustratior-rs, prayers, chants .'d dances life of this world, in a different one, closedto the first, ar-rdnearly its cot.rtrary. aswell... . all Here Hence comesthe mystic asceticismwhose object is to root out from man is how a line of den'rarcationcan be traced betweenthese two the attachmentfor the profaneworld that remainsir-r hin-r. Fron'r that corneall domains. suicide,the logicalworking-out of this asceticism;for the really religious beiiefs are the forrnsof religious i; , P. alwaysco"rrorl to a cletermir.redgror-rp, all life. which.mlipromiscuity,or eventoo direct a contiguity,would contra- colmon i{eas into common practices,is what is ',: calleda church. I' all history, dict too violentlythe dissociationof theseideas in the mind. The sacredthing is wedo not find a singlereligion without a Church.... cannottouch with I It is quite par excellencethat which the profaneshould not touch,and '' another matter with magic. To be sure, tire belief ir.r is impunity. To be sure,this interdiction cannot go so far as to make all cornmu- alwalsmore or-lessgeneral; it is very 'ragic , freque'tly dirfusedin largemasses of the could in no way population,and nication betweenthe two worlds impossible;for if the profane Ihere are even peopleswliere it has as rrrarryr-.llrer.errts as tlre could be good for nothing.But' in ' realreligion. But it does enter into relationswith the sacred,this latter not result ir.rbinding together those wi.ro adhere to rt, is alwaysa delicateopera-, norin uniting addition to the factthat this estabiishmentof relations them i'to a group leadinga comrror life. Thereis no clturclt of initia- magic.Betwee'the tion in itself,demanding great precautions and a more or lesscomplicated magicianand theindividuals who consultl.rirn, as betwee' theseindividuals tion, it is quiteimpossible, unless the profaneis to loseits specificcharacteristics themselves,the'e are no la.stingbor.rds which m:rl

relationswhich they havewith him aregenerally accidental anci transient; they i car be called , Peolfes upon equarlywell. It is tr'e tirat they are just like those prefer tl-remore of a sick man with his physician.. . . ;j welarnong rhe n.iosr.rv,rir.a Therestill remainthose contemporary aspirations towards a religionwhich I,i rl, butfll,T'jjlljlll]T natural l,b',;, ,.q""11y f ."pres,it is theyroo st"routd be ca,ect ., .'ir"..3*. t",r*o;:;;;i';;u'*'tr" would consistentirely in internal and subjectivestates, and which wor_rldbe ,i i passas being not too far relrove,.l frornfrnrn therh^ o^-;,-;,-^ ri gin s, ..-- r 1 ,. constructedfreely by each us. But un i .h u,.,. ..,,,f.,s seclly ry of howsoeverreal theseaspirations n-ray be, i i ilT:::lumped ?::?#,,:":1":.together under the.ath"r :,::::1, imp.eJ.."ftrt. "a or st:Lttnges,areplrt o, trre they car.rnotalfect our definition, for this is to be appliedonly to factsalready ,t samepla'e a'd co's'lted indifferently. Sincefrom this poi't of view factshavc realized,and not to uncertain possibilities.One can define religionssuch as i i-an.lnterest or-rly i' proportior-rto their generality,they they are, , co.side. t},.-r.tu., or suchas they havebeen, but not such as they more or lessvaguely lrobliged to collectas large a number aspoisible of tl-rem;tl-re circle or.or'p.r,- tend to become.It is possiblethat this religiousindividualism is destinedto I irsonscould not become"to.[arse. be realizedin facts;but before we can just say how far this may be the case, i Our methodwill not besuch a onc.... we must lirst know what ,' religion is, of what elementsit is made up, from what 1r [w]e proposeto our research to Australiansocieties....Tlr"y arc pcr- causesit results,and what function it fulfils-all questionswhose solution can- 'i'it I it ispossibre todistinguish varieries arnc,ng not be foreseenbefore the thresholdof our studyl-rasbeen passed. It is onlyat ilf:|1l;*::l'llTi:ilTughtheyal1 rhenr, i1'' belongto one common gpe... .Aiso, a.rrr"rt"?, ioi;;;';;;;.i"ril: the closeof this study that we can attemptto anticipatethe future. , ii yttShour documents are trre'rost co'-rprete.... .,'r'i.r-, Thus we arrive at the following definition: ,,!, [T]hat ," f.,rfor.'io,,uau A religionis a unifed systemof i, t's wo'k is themost primitive and simple l rerrgionwhich it is possibleto ffi:ri beliefsand practicesrelative to sacredthings, that is to say,things setapart and ;:'l,l'' isls therefor-eIneretore naturalnaturar thattrrat to di.scove,discoverir .nr",J,l,o"-" it, we adciresiourserves^,,,--^,,.^^ to societiesas srightry Jbrbidden-beliefsand practiceswhich unite into one singlemoral community for. it il,eldentlythere that we have ttre chance calleda Church,all thosewho adhereto them.The secondelement which thus ilillf,::.t?ii]b]:tanci.studying sreatest of !dl1s.it it we'.Now there are no ,".;;;;.,rt;il.l,;il;::n". finds a placein our definition is no lessessential than the first; for by showing acteristictoa l-righer degreethan Austrarian ones. Not or-rryis their that the ideaof religion is inseparable civirizationthe from that of the church, it makesit clear mostrudimentary-the housear.rd even the hut arestiil ur-rra,rown_butalso tl.reir that religion shouldbe an eminentlycollective thing. organizationis the most pri'ritive anclsimpie which rsactuariy knol,v..

/-=!t Sinceneither man nor naturehave of themselvesa sacredcharacter, they n-lustget it from another source.Aside from the human individual ar"rdthe psychicalworld, there should be someother reality,in relationto which...all TheTotem as Name and as Emblem religion . . . hasa significanceand objectivevalue. In other words,beyond those : to its.nature, which we havecalled animistic and naturistic,there should be anothersort of i9:* our stucly includetwo parts. 'viil Sinceevery rcligio, is cult, more fundamentaland more primitive, of which the first areonly derived conceptionsand ,. i ff::^r,,.f :,l,ltl:.tt:.:y.] rituat praoices, we nlusr clealsuc_ forms or particular aspects. ,;i with thebelief: wl.richcornpose $::tjt]:]y i"O.l::r the tote'ri. ..tigt.,,,.1,.r. In fhct, this cult does exist:it is the one to which ethnologistshave given of th,ereligioi-rs life are too [l::,,1:-.::r closelyconnecred with cacli orher the name of totemism. tttgt of ar.ryradical separation.In [1i1t principle, tl-recr-rlt is deriveclfror' rhe ti.rem;.the ; f;;;e'tly ru Ti:.lf :lreacts'pon *ocletectafter tt.rc rire i' accoLu.rtfor it, -,,i-' 1,.'lderto especiallywhen its senseis ro lo'ger appare't. is clearthat Australiais the most favourablefield o' the II]t for the studyof totem- - which.,.-.are.r"".rf onty isrn,and thereforewe shallrnake it the principalarea of our observations.,.. li' it|'|it-r::.1"it^11e*t':l^ ,' throughthe rires Sothese rwo parts of our-""uested anatysiscannot failio In hts 'fotemism Frazer sought especially to collect all the traces of totem-li,i ;l:::::y::::rhern. overlap. f":1, areso dillerer.rtthat ism which could be found in history :#::;:jtl::""j::,:,:*: :f it is indispens"bteto or ethnography.He wastl-u-rs led to include: separately.And since it isimpossible ;;;;;.;;;;J*ffi'"u"r, in his study societiesthe nature and degreeof whose cultures differs most llu:l1lhem withthe ideas upon which it resrs, widely.. . . This manner of procedureis not at all surprisingfor a discipleof theri tolr,{:9::lJli:,I":.?*ll,edbecome wen.rusr scek acquaintedwith theselatter first of ail. anthropologicalschool. For this schooldoes not seekto locatereligions in the;iiu i' But it is r-iotour intention to retraceal the specurations social environmentsof which ir.rtowhicrr the they are a part.. .. For researchesof this sort.all u ieligiousthought, even of trre Australian. utor-r.,ho, run. The trrirgs we wish l0B lntroducing Religion EmileDurkheim: TheSocial as Sacrcd 109

to reachare the elementarynotions at the basisof the reiigion,but thereis no r, [T]he totem is not merelya name;it is an emblem,a veritablecoat-of-arms needof following then-rthrough all the development,sometimes very confused, ,''whose analogies with the arms of heraldryhave often beenremarkecl. ... Tl-rus which the mythologicalimagination of thesepeoples has given them. We shall ,' whenthe Indiansentered into relationswith the Europeansand contractswere makeuse of my.thswhen they enableus to understandthese fundamental ideas '1' formed between thern, it was with its totem that each clar-rsealed the treatres better,but we shallnot make my'thologyitself the subjectof our studies.In so thuscorrcluded. far as this is a work of art, it doesnot faIl within the jurisdiction of the simple ' The noblesof the feudal period carved,engraved and designedin every scienceof religions.Also, the intellectualevolution from which it resultsis of , r:waytheircoats-of-arms upon the walls of tl-reircastles, tl-reir arms, and every too greata complexityto be studiedindirectly and from a foreignpoint of view. . sortof objectthat belongedto them; the blacksof Australiaand the Indians of It c;nstitutesa very difficult problem whicl-rrnust be treatedby itself,for itself NorthAmerica do the samething with their totems.... and with a method peculiarto itself. ' But toternicimages are not placedor-rly upon the wallsof tlreir houses.the Among the beiiefs upon which totemism rests,the most important are sidesof their canoes,their arms, their utensilsand their tombs; they are also naturallythose concerning the totern;it is with thesethat we must begin. foundon the bodies of the men. They do not put their coat-of-armsmerely At the basisof neariy all the Australiantribes we find a grouPwhich holds uponthe thingswhich they possess,but they put it upon their personslthey a preponderatingplace in the collectivelife: this is the clan.Two essentialtraits imprintit upon their flesh,it becomesa part of them, and this world of repre- characterizeit. sentationsis evenby far the more important one. In the first place,the individuals who composeit considerthemselves united by a bond of kinship, but one which is of a very specialnature. This con- Thesetotemic decorations seethat the totem is not merely a reiationshipdoes not come from the fact that they have definite blood "nuUil,o nameand an emblem.It is in nectionswith one another;they are relativesfrom the mere fact that they have the courseof the religiousceremonies that they areemployed; they are a the samename. They are not fathersapd mothers,sons or daughters,uncles or part of the liturgy; so while the totem is a collective label,it also has a religiouscharacter. nephewsof one another in the sensewhich we now give thesewords; yet they In fact, it is in connectionwith it, that thingsare classified as think of themselvesas forn-iing a singlefamily, which is largeor smallaccording sacredor prolane.It is thevery t)?e of sacredthilg. Thetribes of Cer-rtralAustralia, to the dimensionsof the clan, rnerelybecause they are collectivelydesignated especiallytl-re Arunta, the Loritja, tl-reKait- rsh,the Unrnatjera,and tl.re by the sameword. . . . The speciesof things which servesto designatetl.re clan Ilpirra, rnakeconstant use of certair.rinstrurnclts in their riteswhich arecalled collectivelyis called its totem. The totem of the clan is alsothat of eachof its tl.rechuringa. .. .Th.y arepieces of wood or bits ofpoiished stone....Upon rnembers. eachof theseis engraveda clesigr.rrepresenting the totemof this Each clan has its totem, which belongsto it alone;two differentclans of samegroup. A certainnumber of the churingahave a hole at one end,through which the sametribe cannot havethe same.In fact,one is a memberof a clan merely goesa thread.. . . By n-reansof the threadby which they are suspended,they are becausehe has a certain name. All who bear this namc are metnbersof it for whirled rapidly it.rthe air in such a way as to produce a sortof humrning... .These that very reason;in whatevermanner they may be spreadover the tribal terri- sortsof churingaare... bull roarersIsacred sound- makingdevices: ed.]. tory, they all havethe samerelations of kinship with one another...... In fact, every In regardto the word totem,we may saythat it is the one ernployedby the churinga, for whateverpurpose it may be erlployetl, is countedamong the Ojibway,an Algonquin tribe, to designatethe sort of thing whosename tire clan eminent[ysacred things; there are none which surpassit in religiousdignity. This indicated bears.Although this expressionis not at all Australian,and is found only in one is evenby the word which is usedto desigr-rate thern.It is not only a singlesociety in America, ethnographershave definitely adopted it, and useit sr-rbstantivebut alsoan acljectivemeaning sacred.. .. Chu, ringa,when used to denote,in a generalway, the systemwhich we aredescribing.... substantively,therefore designates the thing whose essential characteristicis sacredness.Profar-re persons, that is to say,women and [Nlormaliy the totem is not an individual, but a speciesor a variety:it is young mennot yet initiated into not such and such a kangarooor cro4 but the kangarooor crow in general, the religior.rslife, may not touch or evensee the chu- ringa;they are only allowedto liii Sometimes,howevet it is a particularobject. look at it from a distance,and eventhis is only onrare occasions. l,1l 110 IntroducingReligion EmileDurkheim: The Social as Sacred 111

SocietyFrames Our Categoriesof Thought Theidea of classis an instrumentof thought which hasobviously been structed by men. But in constructingit, we have at leasthad of model;for 'eed We arebeginning to seethat totemismis a much more cornplexreligion than how could this idea ever have been born, if there i'radbee' tnothingeither it first appearedto be.we havealready distinguished three classes of thlngs in us or arourd us whicir was capableof suggestingit to r.rs? the, ,l t.pry tnat lt was given to ttsa priori which it recognizesas sacred,in varying degrees:tl-re totemic emblem, i is r.rotto reply at all; this lazy man,s solutionis, as animal or plant whoseappearance this emblemreproduces, and the mem- hasbeen said, the deathof analysis.But it is hard to seewhere wecould have bers of the clan.However, this list is not yet complete.In fact, a religionis found tl-risindispensable model exceptin tl-respectacle of the iollectivelife' not merely a collectionof fragmentarybeliefs in regardto specialobjects', in fact, a classis not an ideai,but a clearlycreh'ed group of thingsbetween like thosewe havejust beendiscussing. To a greateroi lessextent, all knownl which internal relationshipsexist, sirnilarto those of kin- Now religior-rshave been systems of ideaswhich tend to ernbracethe universality 1dred. tire only groups of this sort know' from experie'ce are those of things,and to give us a completerepresentation of the world. If totem-ir rrformedby men in associati'g themselves.. . .In a1l probability,rve wourd ism is to be consideredas a religion cornparableto the others,it too should" ,,neverhave tirought of uniting the beings of the u'ivcrse inr.o honroqerrecius offer us a conceptionof the universe.As a matter of fact,it doessatisfy this .groups,called classes,if we had r-rotthe examplc of lru'en societie! before oureyes. . . condition. But these pri'ritive ciassifications have a no less direct interest fcrr the ori- aru ginsol religiousthoughr. .. . haveshown what light thesefacts throw upon tl-reway in which the men [w]e li,',' [T]he of the cla^ and the thir-rgswhich areclassified in it fo.'by their idea of a kind or classwas formed in humanity.In fact,these systematic [totem: i a solid system,ail of wl-rose !'yion partsare ur-rited ar-rd vibrate sy'rpatl-retically. first we meet with in history, and we havejust seen This ed.l classificationsare the ; organization,which at firstnray lrave appeared to us.. p..,r.iylogical, is tl-resocial organizatiou,or ratl'terthat they have' atthe that they are modeled upon ; sauretime moral. A si'gle pri'ciple anirnatesit and rnakesits unrry: astheir framework..:.It is becausemen wereorga- is taken the folns of society i this the totern.lust as a man who belongsto tl-recrow clan haswithin him ableto organizethings, fbr in classifyingthese lat- nized that they havebeen ;somethingof this animal,so the rain, sinceit is of the sameclan ancl belo'gs ter, they limited themselvesto giving them placesin the groupsthey formed s,ametotem, is alsonecessarily co'sidered "the 'r, ;tothe as being sa'e thing Is different classesof things are not merely put nextto !ia crow"; themselves.And if theSe for the samereason, the rnoon is a black coclminds, and reciprocally.The representatior-rswl-rich express them Thus the totem is before all a symbol,a materialexpression of something withineach of us havean intensitywhich no purelyprivate statesof conscrous- else.BuL of what? nesscould ever attain; for they have the strength of the innumerableindi- From the analysisto which we havebeen giving our attention,it is evidentI vidual representations which have served to form eacl-rof them. It is society that it expressesand symbolizestwo differentsorts of things.In the first place, speaksthrough the mouths of those who affirrn them in our presence; it is the outward and visible form of what we havecalled the totemic principle issociety whom we hear in hearingthem; and the voice of all has an accenr or god. But it is also the symbol of the determinedsociety called the clan.It is whichthat of one alone could never have. The very violence with which society its flag;it is the sign by which eachclan distinguishesitself frorr the others,the by way of blame or material suppression,against every attemptecldis- visible mark of its personality,a mark borne by everythingwhich is a part of idence,contributes to strengtheningits empire by manifestingthe common the clan under any title whatsoever,men, beastsor things.So if it is at once ,,c.onvictionthrough this burst of ardor.In a word, when somethingis the object symboi of the god and of the society,is that not becausethe god and the society 'ofsuch a stateof opinion, the representationwhich each individual has of it are only one?How could the emblem of the group havebeen ableto become ins a power of action from its origins and tl-recondltions in which it was the figure of this quasi-divinity, if the group and the divinity were tvvo distinct born,which even those feel who do not submit themselvesto it. It tends to realities?The god of the clan, the totemic principle,can thereforebe nothing frepeithe representationswhich contradictit, and it keepsthem at a distance; elsethan the clan itself,personified and representedto the imaginationunder onthe other hand, it comrnandsthose acts which will realizeit, and it doesso, the visibleform of the animal or vegetablewhich servesas totem. '1 by a materialcoercion or by the perspectiveof somethingof tl-rissort, br-rt But how has this apotheosisbeen possible, and how did it happento take bythe simpleradiation of the mental energywhich it contains.It l-rasan effi- olacein thisfashion? cacycoming solelyfrom its psychicalproperties, and it is by just this sign that In a generalway, it is unquestionablethat a sociefyhas all that is necessary al authority is recognized.So opinion, prirnarily a socialthing, is a source to arousethe sensationof the divine in minds, merelyby the power that it has ofauthority, and it might evenbe aslcomrades, r'with.his he hasmore confidence,courage and boldnessin action, But a god is not merely an authority upon whom we depend;it is a force justlike the believer who thinks that he feersthe regardof his god turned upon which our strengthrelies. The man who hasobeyed his god and who,for graciouslytowards him. It thus produces,as it were,a perpetuarsustenance this reasoh,believes the god is with him, approachesthe world with confidence forour moral nature.Since this varieswith a multitudeof externalcircum- and with the feeling of an increasedenergy. Likewise, social action doesnot stances,as our relations with the groups about us are more or less actrve confine itself to demanding sacrifices,privations and efforts from us. For the andas these groups themselves,rnry, *. cannot fail to feerthat this moral collectiveforce is not entireiyoutside of us;it doesnot act upon us wholly from supportdepends upon an externalcause; but we do not perceivewhere this without; but rather,since society cannot exist except in and through individual causeis nor what it is.so we ordinarirythink of it ,r'der ihe form of a m.rar consciousnesses,this force must also penetrateus and organizeitself within powerwhich, though immanent in us, representswithin us somethingnot us; it thus becomesan integral part of our being and by that very fact this is ourselves:this is the morarconscience, of whicrr,by the way,men havenever elevatedand masnified. madeeven a slightly distinct representationexcept by the aid of religrous Thereare occasions when this strengtheningand vivifying action of soci- symbols. ety is especiallyapparent. In the midst of an assemblyanimated by common In addition to these free forceswhich are constantlycoming to renew our passion,we becomesusceptible of actsand sentimentsof which we areinca- own,there are others which are fixed in the methodsand traditionswhich we pable when reduced to our own forces;and when the assemblyis dissolved employwe speaka language that we did not make;we useinstruments that we and when, finding ourselvesalone again,we fall back to our ordinary level, didnot invent; we invorcerights that we did not found; a treasuryof knowredge we are then able to measurethe heisht to which we have been raisedabove istransmitted to each generati^onth-at it did not gatrreritself, etc. It is to society ourselves.History abounds in examplesof this sort. It is enough to think of thatwe owethese varied be'efits of civilization,l'd if we do not ordi'arily see the night of the Fourth of August, 1789,when ar-rassembly was suddenlyled ;, thesource from wl-rich we get them, we at leastknow that they arenot our own which each its membershad refused to an act of sacrificeand abnegation of *"llt is thesethings thatgiveman his i T.'l own placeamong things; u is the day before,and at which they were all surprisedthe day after.This is why aman only because he is civilized.So he couldnot escapetn. r.Il.,g tiut outside-un all parties,political, economic,or confessional,are careful to haveperiodical ofhim thereare active causesfrom which he getsthe characteristic"attributesof reunions where their membersmay revivify their common faith by manifest- hisnature and which, asbenevorent powers, issist him, protectrrim and assure ing it in common. To strengthenthose sentiments which, if left to themselves, him of a privileged fate.And of coursehe must attributeto thesepowers a dig- would soon weaken, it is sufficient to bring those who hold them togetherr nitycorresponding to the greatvarue of the good thingshe attribuiesto them. and to put them into closer and more activerelations with one another.This Thus the environment r, in which we rive seemsto us to be peopledwitrr is the explanationof the particular attitude of a man speakingto a crowd,at fo.ttr-rthat are at ll once imperious and herpful,august and gracious,and witrr Ieastif he has succeededin enteringinto communion with it. His language, iwhich we haverelations. Sincethey exerciseover us a pressureofwhich we are has a grandiioquencethat would be ridiculous in ordinary circumstances;, 'rconscious, we areforced to localize them outsideourselves, lust aswe do for the his gesturesshow a certain domination; his very thought is impatient of all objectivecauses of our sensations... . rules, and easily falls into all sorts of excesses.It is becausehe feelswithin If... ta society]happens . to fan in love with a man and if it thinks it has him an abnormal over-supplyof force which overflowsand tries to burst out foundin him the principal aspirationsthat move it, as weil as the means of from him.... satis4/ingthem, this man will be raisedabove the othersand, as it were,deified. 116 lntroducingReligion EmileDurkheim: The Social ' as Sacred I17

Opinion will investhim with a majestyexactly analogous to that protectingthe : The Powerof SacredCeremonies gods.This is what has happenedto so many sovereignsin whom their agehad faith: if they werenot made gods,they wereat leastregarded as direct represen- [l]t isin the midst of . . . effervescentsocial environments and out of this efrerves- tativesof the deity.And the fact that it is societyalone which is the authorof ; cence i itselfthat the religiousidea seems to be born. The theory that ti-risis really thesevarieties ofapotheosis, is evidentsince it frequentlychances to consecrate itsorigin : is confirmedby the fact that in Australiathe reallyreligior-rs actrvity is rnen thus who haveno right to it from their ovrn merit. The simplecleference almoster-rtirely confinedto the momentswhen theseassernblies are held. . .. The inspired by men investedwith high socialfunctions is not differentin nature religiouslife of the Australian passesthrough successivephases of con.rplete from religiousrespect... .In Melanesiaand Polynesia,for example,it is saidthat lull and of super-excitation,and sociallife oscillatesin the samerhythm. This an influential man has mana, andthat his influenceis due to this mana.How-. puts clearlyinto evidencethe bond ur-ritingthem to one another... . By concen- ever,it is evidentthat his situation is due solelyto the importanceattributed to trating itself almostentirely in certaindetermined moments, the coliectivelife him bypublic opinion.... hasbeen ableto attair-rits greatestir.rtensity and ellicacy,and consequentlyto This aptitudeofsociety for settingitselfup asa god or for creatinggods was glvemen a more activesentiment of the doubleexistence they lead and of tl-re never more apparenttlian during the first yearsof tl-reFrench Revolutior.r. At doublenature in which they participate. this time, in fact, under the influenceof the generalenthusiasm, things pr'rrely But this explanation _ is still incon-rplete.we rraveshown how the cla', by laical by nature were transformedby public opinion into sacredthings: these themanner in whicir it actsupon its mernbers,awakens withi'the'.r the idea of were the Fatherland,Liberty, Reason.A religion tendedto becomeestablished externalforces which dominatethem and exaltthem; but we must still demand which had its dogmas,symbols, aitars and feasts.It was to thesespontaneous howit happensthat theseforces are thought of unclertl"re fo'n , of totems,that aspirationsthat the cult of Reasonand the SupremeBeing atternptedto give isto say,in the shapeof an animal or plant. a sort of official satisfaction.It is true that this religiousrenovation had only , It is becausethis a'imal or pla't hasgiven its name to the clan and serves an ephemeralduration. But that was becausethe patriotic enthusiasmwhich it as emblem.In fact, it is a well-known law that the sentimentsaroused in *s at first transportedthe massessoon relaxed.The causebeing gone,the eft-ect bysomething spontaneously attach tl-remselves to the syn.rbolwhich represents could not remain.But this experirnent,though short-lived,keeps all its socio- them. For us,black is a sig'of mour'ing; it alsosuggests sad impressio's and logical interest.It remainstrue that in one determinedcase we haveseen soci- I ideas. This transferenceof sentimentscomes simply fiom the faci that the idea of any ety and its essentialideas become, directly and with no transfiguration , ofa thing and the idea of its symbolare closery ' united in our minds; the result sort, the objectofa veritablecult. isthat the emotionsprovoked by the one extendcontagiously to the other.Br-rt AII thesefacts allow us to catchglirnpses of how the clanwas able to awaken thiscontagion, which takesplace in everycase to a certaindegree, is much more within its membersthe idea that outsideof them thereexist forces which domi- complete and more markedwhe'the syrnbolis somethingsimple, defirite and nate thern and at tire same time sustainthem, that is to sayin fine, religious easrly representable.... For we are unableto consideran abstractentity, which forces:it is becausethere is no societywith which the primitive is more directly wecan ,, representonly laboriouslyand confusedly,the sourceof the stro'g sen- and closelyconnected. The bonds uniting him to the tribe are much more lax timentswhich we feel.we cannotexplain them to ourselvesexcept by connect_ and more feeblyfelt. Although this is not at all strangeor foreign to him, it is them 'ing to someconcrete object of whosereality we arevividly aware....Itis with the people of his own clan that he has the greatestnumber of thingsin thiswhich is loved,feared, respected; it is to this that we are grateful;it is for common; it is the action of this group that he feelsthe most directly; so it is ' thisthat we sacrificeourselves. The soldier who dies for l.risflae, dies for his this also which, in preferenceto all others, should expressitself in religious country; but asa matter of fact,in his own consciousness.it is tlre flag that has symbols. thefirst piace.... But this first explanationhas been too general,for it is applicableto every Now the totem is the flag of the clan.It is thereforenatural that the impres_ sort of societyindifferently, and consequentlyto every sort of religion.Let us sions arousedby the clan in individuarrrinds-irnpressions of dependenceand attemptto determineexactly what form this collectiveaction takes in the clan ofincreased vitality-shouid fix themseivesto the idea of the totem rathertl.ran and how it arousesthe sensationofsacredness there. For thereis no placewhere that of the clan: for the clan is too complexa reality to be representedclearly it is more easilyobservable or more apparentin its results. in all its complex unity by such rudirnentary intelligences.More than that, theprimitive doesnot even seethat theseimpressions come to him from the INTRODUCING RELIGION Readingsfrom the ClassicTheorists

Daniel L. Pals

New York Oxford OXFORDUNIVERSITY PRESS 2009