Emile Durkheim's The Elementary Forms of Religious Life

The crux of Emile Durkheim’s The Elementary Forms of Religious Life lies in the concept of collective effervescence, or the feelings of mutually shared emotions. Through a hermeneutical approach, Durkheim investigates the reflexiveness of social organization, the balance between form and content, and the immense cooperation in collective representations. In his work, society is the framework of humanity and gives it meaning, whereas religion acts as the tool to explain it. Since society existed prior to the individual, the collective mind must be understood before the concept of the individual can be grasped. However, one component seems missing from his social theory – what underlies society in terms of rituals and rites? Only when this element is fleshed out can the individual be comprehended with respect to the collective conscience. One, out of many, possibilities is the often-overlooked influence of emotions. What is the connection between social functions and emotions? Perhaps emotions reify social solidarity by means of a collective conscience. Durkheim posits the notion that society shares a bilateral relationship with emotional experiences, for the emotions of collective effervescence derive from society but also produce and maintain the social construct.
Durkheim asserts that emotions underlie society and portrays their ephemeral nature to emphasize that social gatherings must constantly be held to sustain society. By unpacking Durkheim’s study of the primitive Warramunga tribe, it can be seen that emotions lie at the root of the corroboree. On the fourth day of the religious ceremony honoring the Wollonqua snake, the participants “move their bodies…letting out an echoing scream in a high state of excitement” (219). Char...

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...nly society, but they also embody an individual’s connection with the collective. Through paralleling emotions and the sacred, Durkheim unveils the reasoning behind the churinga in society.
Emotional experiences underlie society and provide the sustenance necessary to maintain social cohesion. The social feelings of reverence create the group bonds that tie the individual to society. Now that the relationship between emotions and society has been explicated, it begs the question as to how this relationship applies to life today. Can society function even without the primitive rites of corroborees? Have corroborees faded out of modern times, or have they simply manifested themselves in new forms, such as sporting events and raves? Whatever the case may be, the emotional aspect of humanity cannot be neglected, for it represents the glue that holds society together.