Collective effervescence (CE) is a sociological concept coined by
Émile Durkheim
David Émile Durkheim ( or ; 15 April 1858 – 15 November 1917) was a French sociologist. Durkheim formally established the academic discipline of sociology and is commonly cited as one of the principal architects of modern social science, al ...
. According to Durkheim, a community or society may at times come together and simultaneously communicate the same thought and participate in the same action. Such an event then causes collective effervescence which excites individuals and serves to unify the group.
In religion
Collective effervescence is the basis for
Émile Durkheim
David Émile Durkheim ( or ; 15 April 1858 – 15 November 1917) was a French sociologist. Durkheim formally established the academic discipline of sociology and is commonly cited as one of the principal architects of modern social science, al ...
's
theory of religion as laid out in his 1912 volume ''
Elementary Forms of Religious Life
''The Elementary Forms of Religious Life'' (french: Les formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse), published by the French sociologist Émile Durkheim in 1912, is a book that analyzes religion as a social phenomenon. Durkheim attributes the dev ...
''. Durkheim argues that the universal religious
dichotomy of profane and sacred results from the lives of these tribe members: most of their life is spent performing menial tasks such as hunting and gathering. These tasks are profane. The rare occasions on which the entire tribe gathers together become sacred, and the high energy level associated with these events gets directed onto physical objects or people which also become sacred.
The force is thus associated with the
totem
A totem (from oj, ᑑᑌᒼ, italics=no or '' doodem'') is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan system.
While ''the ...
which is the symbol of the clan, mentioned by Durkheim in his study of "elementary forms" of religion in Aboriginal societies. Because it provides the tribe's name, the symbol is present during the gathering of the clan. Through its presence in these gatherings, the totem comes to represent both the scene and the strongly felt emotion, and thus becomes a collective representation of the group.
For Durkheim, religion is a fundamentally social phenomenon. The beliefs and practices of the sacred are a method of
social organization
In sociology, a social organization is a pattern of relationships between and among individuals and social groups.
Characteristics of social organization can include qualities such as sexual composition, spatiotemporal cohesion, leadership, s ...
. This explanation is detailed in ''Elementary Forms'' "Book 2/The Elementary Beliefs", chapter 7, "Origins of These Beliefs: Origin of the Idea of the
Totem
A totem (from oj, ᑑᑌᒼ, italics=no or '' doodem'') is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan system.
While ''the ...
ic Principle or
Mana
According to Melanesian and Polynesian mythology, ''mana'' is a supernatural force that permeates the universe. Anyone or anything can have ''mana''. They believed it to be a cultivation or possession of energy and power, rather than being ...
". According to Durkheim, "god and society are one of the same…the god of the clan…can be none other than the clan itself, but the clan transfigured and imagined in the physical form of a plant or animal that serves as a totem."
[Durkheim 1995, p. 208 (1965, p. 236).]
The group members experience a feeling of a loss of individuality and unity with the gods and according to Durkheim, thus with the group.
[Kunin, pp. 20-21.]
See also
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Bandwagon effect
The bandwagon effect is the tendency for people to adopt certain behaviors, styles, or attitudes simply because others are doing so. More specifically, it is a cognitive bias by which public opinion or behaviours can alter due to particular act ...
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Crowd psychology
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Collective action
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Collective behavior
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Collective consciousness
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Collective hysteria
Mass psychogenic illness (MPI), also called mass sociogenic illness, mass psychogenic disorder, epidemic hysteria, or mass hysteria, involves the spread of illness symptoms through a population where there is no infectious agent responsible for c ...
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Collective intelligence
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Echo chamber (media)
In discussions of news media, an echo chamber refers to situations in which beliefs are amplified or reinforced by communication and repetition inside a closed system and insulated from rebuttal. By participating in an echo chamber, people are a ...
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Herd behavior
Herd behavior is the behavior of individuals in a group acting collectively without centralized direction. Herd behavior occurs in animals in herds, packs, bird flocks, fish schools and so on, as well as in humans. Voting, demonstrations, riots ...
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Herd instinct
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Hooliganism
Hooliganism is disruptive or unlawful behavior such as rioting, bullying and vandalism, usually in connection with crowds at sporting events.
Etymology
There are several theories regarding the origin of the word ''hooliganism,'' which is a d ...
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Football hooliganism
Football hooliganism, also known as soccer hooliganism, football rioting or soccer rioting, constitutes violence and other destructive behaviours perpetrated by spectators at association football events. Football hooliganism normally involves ...
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Group action (sociology)
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Group behaviour
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Group cohesiveness
Group cohesiveness (also called group cohesion and social cohesion) arises when bonds link members of a social group to one another and to the group as a whole. Although cohesion is a multi-faceted process, it can be broken down into four main co ...
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Groupthink
Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome. Cohesiveness, or the desire for cohesiveness ...
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Limbic resonance
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Mass action (sociology)
Mass action in sociology refers to the situations where numerous people behave simultaneously in a similar way but individually and without coordination.
For example, at any given moment, many thousands of people are shopping - without any coordi ...
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Ochlocracy
Mob rule or ochlocracy ( el, ὀχλοκρατία, translit=okhlokratía; la, ochlocratia) is the rule of government by a mob or mass of people and the intimidation of legitimate authorities. Insofar as it represents a pejorative for majorit ...
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Peer pressure
Peer pressure is the direct or indirect influence on peers, i.e., members of social groups with similar interests, experiences, or social statuses. Members of a peer group are more likely to influence a person's beliefs, values, and behavior. A g ...
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Psychology of religion
Psychology of religion consists of the application of psychological methods and interpretive frameworks to the diverse contents of religious traditions as well as to both religious and irreligious individuals. The various methods and frameworks ...
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Social comparison theory
Social comparison theory, initially proposed by social psychologist Leon Festinger in 1954, centers on the belief that there is a drive within individuals to gain accurate self-evaluations. The theory explains how individuals evaluate their own ...
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Spiral of silence
The spiral of silence theory is a political science and mass communication theory proposed by the German political scientist Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann. It states that an individual's perception of the distribution of public opinion influences that ...
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Superorganism
A superorganism or supraorganism is a group of synergetically interacting organisms of the same species. A community of synergetically interacting organisms of different species is called a holobiont.
Concept
The term superorganism is used m ...
References
Sources
*Durkheim, Émile. ''The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life'', (1912, English translation by Joseph Swain: 1915) The Free Press, 1965: ; HarperCollins, 1976: ; new translation by Karen E. Fields, Free Press 1995:
*Griswold, Wendy, ''Cultures and Societies in a Changing World'', Pine Forge Press, 2008; 51-56.
*Kunin, Seth D. ''Religion; the modern theories'', University of Edinburgh, 2003:
Crowd psychology
Émile Durkheim
Sociological terminology
Violence
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