Durkheim's View On Sociology Of Religion Under The Category Of Collective Consciousness

Emile Durkheim,as one of the representative figures of classical modernity theory,explained and predicted the development status and future direction of modern society with rich sociological thoughts.His sociology of religion theory is even more enduring.In the early researches,Durkheim mainly carried out various empirical studies with the usage of sociological methods.In the later period of his research,religious phenomena became his main research object.The study of religious issues was not only incorporated into Durkheim's sociological system and became an indispensable part of his sociological theory,but also opened up a new perspective for Durkheim's later research themes and methods.Durkheim was interested in religious phenomena at the initial stage of his research work.It was not until the book Basic Forms of Religious Life written by Durkheim with more than ten years of painstaking efforts in his later years that his theory of religious sociology was truly and completely formed.Among them,"collective consciousness"is an essential category that runs through his religious sociology thoughts.This category was put forward by Durkheim from the beginning and became the key clue for him to answer religious questions.Around the "collective consciousness",the "sacredness" of religion has a different interpretation from previous religious researchers in Durkheim.Although the concept of "collective consciousness" itself was gradually replaced by another concept "collective representation"in the development of Durkheim's theory,the latter was still a concrete manifestation based on the former.Through the exploration of "collective consciousness" in the religious field,Durkheim gave an answer to how the moral norms of human society could be constructed and how the unity of modern society could be rebuilt.This paper aims at clarifying Durkheim's religious sociological thoughts on the nature of religion,combing the relationship between religion,morality and society in Durkheim's religious sociological thoughts,and further understanding Durkheim's religious sociological theories under the guidance of Durkheim's category of "collective consciousness".This paper is divided into three chapters for the discussion of Durkheim's religious sociological theory under the category of collective consciousness.The first chapter of this paper mainly elaborates the concept of Durkheim's"collective consciousness" and his religious view.The concept of collective consciousness was put forward in the theory of The Division of Labour in Society.Durkheim discovered the important role of "collective consciousness" in social unity in the process of studying the phenomenon of division of labour.For modern society,the weakening of "collective consciousness" has led to the relaxation of traditional morality and religion,but at the same time,"collective consciousness" has also become an essential factor for the construction of new social unity.In primitive religion,collective consciousness formed collective morality in a sacred way,which is also suitable for modern society.The second chapter mainly analyzes Durkheim's discussion on religious life from the perspective of moral community.After studying the primitive religion,Durkheim put forward the concept of impersonal force,with a clarification on the internal relationship among religious power,social power and moral power,thus his understanding of the essence of religion is revealed.The feeling of power in people's consciousness is also the mode of action of collective consciousness.Religious power,social power and moral power are all manifestations of collective consciousness.Moral community is a necessary condition for the development of religious life,and only through moral community can religious power exert its effect in individual members.The moral community of religion is also Durkheim's attempt to construct modern social morality.The third chapter mainly discusses the emergence and maintenance of collective consciousness in religious life.Collective consciousness itself is created from collective actions.The reason why it can continue to play a cohesive role is that it can be maintained and regenerated in collective actions.Religious ceremony is a key factor in religious life.Ritual creates collective consciousness in the process of inspiring actions,and regularly updates and strengthens collective consciousness.Durkheim's religious sociological theory under the category of collective consciousness provided a train of thought about stepping over religious morality and secular morality,leaving some space for Collins and Turner who have further developed this theory later on.And finally,it is the conclusion part of this paper.It synthesizes the contents of the above three chapters and the thoughts on Durkheim's sociological theory of religion are expressed,including the problems existed in and the direction of development for his theory of collective consciousness,the enlightenment provided to the study of religion and the value of religion in modern society in the future.