- Durkheim saw religion as society’s way of controlling the individual.
- He studied Australian aboriginal societies and concluded that there is a strong sense of loyalty to the clan’s customs — they are holy and to go against the group’s mind by breaking these customs is a fearful thing.
- Like a god, society asks us to be its servants, demanding sacrifices which go against our instincts.
- His explanation of religion is also an attempt to explain away religion.
Society is a God
- He claims that society is a God — it pre-exists us and gives us a community in which to take shape as persons; it seems to nurture us.
- Convictions are based on the study of an actual society.
- People’s devotion to society - even their willingness to give up their lives for it - is a sign of their religious attachment.
Quote
“Discover the rational substitutes for these religious notions that for a long time have served as the vehicle for the most essential moral ideas” (Durkheim)
- Durkheim was keen to urge people to unite in a civic morality based on the recognition that we are what we are because of society.
- The society acts within us to elevate us, not unlike the way in which the divine spark was said to transform ordinary humans into creatures capable of transcending their physical, intellectual and emotional capacity.
Criticisms
- Religious believers distinguish between membership in their religious community and belief in God.
- Membership of the religious community is important, their primary loyalty is to God not to the community.
- The theory does not explain how religious believers are sometimes prepared to go against the norms and laws of society and even reject them.
- Durkheim’s thesis was modelled on primitive aboriginal societies and is therefore not a true reflection of modern religious belief and practice which is more sophisticated.
- Society constantly changes, in many cases, religion resists the changing nature of society’s beliefs.