Sociology

RELIGION: DURKHEIM AND WEBER

Classical, seminal sociological theorists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, such as Durkheim and Weber, were greatly interested in religion and its effects on society. Like those of Plato and Aristotle from ancient Greece and Enlightenment philosophers from the 17th through 19th centuries, the ideas posited by these sociologists continue to be examined today. Durkheim and Weber had very complex and developed theories about the nature and effects of religion. Of these, Durkheim and Weber are often more difficult to understand, especially in light of the lack of context and examples. Religion was considered to be an extremely important social variable in the work of these two.

1. RELIGION

Emile Durkheim studies religion in what he believes is its most elementary form. He focuses on a tribal society where collective life is pervasive. Ideas are held in common by all individuals, and there is an intensity of shared ideas and feelings. This is a society without written historical records. Religion and clan organization overlap. Thus Durkheim emphasizes the role of religion as a collective phenomenon which serves to strengthen social bonds.

On the other hand, Weber studies the major features of the great world religions. He is interested in their historical roots and capacity to guide and shape economic activity. These world religions are also seen as responses to the prevailing social situations. For instance, Buddhism and Jainism in India hit out against the caste system. Judaism was the religion of the oppressed Palestinian peasantry. Protestantism was a “protest” against the decadence of the orthodox Catholic Church.

Thus, Durkheim’s emphasis on tribal religion visualizes the role of religion in maintaining social order; Weber’s analysis looks at the creative role of religion in helping to shape new ways of thinking and acting.

2. THE ROLE OF RELIGION

Durkheim sees religion as an expression of the collective conscience. Worshipping the totem is nothing but worshipping the clan itself. Ideas and beliefs cherished by the clan as a whole thus become part of the individual conscience. The separation between the sacred and the profane aspects of the world is mediated through certain rites. The participation of the whole clan in some important rites helps to bring about collective enthusiasm, linking individuals into social bonds and making them aware of the incredible power of society.

Weber, in contrast, wishes to understand religion in relation to economic, political, and historical factors. How does it interact with other institutions of society? How does society shape and is, in turn, shaped by religious beliefs? Weber is interested in the unique cultural patterns to be found in each society. He sees religion as part and parcel of a larger historical trend: the move towards capitalism, industrialization, and rationality. He is concerned with the role of religion in making the world-view of individuals in different societies favourably or unfavourably inclined towards capitalism and rationalization.

3. GODS, SPIRITS, AND PROPHETS

Durkheim denies that religion is concerned with the mysterious, with gods and spirits. He holds that the object of worship is society itself, transformed and represented through certain symbolic objects. Weber does not hesitate to use the idea of gods and spirits. Weber deals with religions of relatively recent origin compared to the tribal religions. These religions discussed by Weber express certain personal qualities and display a certain level of abstraction. When individuals abstract, they engage in a symbolic activity. Durkheim argues that the totem is the symbol of the clan. Weber takes the example of a totem, which, while worshipped as a symbol, is an animal that is sacrificially killed and eaten. The spirits and gods of the tribe are called to take part in the feast. Whilst eating the animal, clan members believe themselves to be united because the animal’s spirit enters them. They are united not merely by the totem as an emblem or a symbol, but they are united by sharing the substance of the sacred animal, which is not merely flesh but spirit.

Weber, unlike Durkheim, attaches great importance to prophets in propagating religious beliefs. Religions like Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are characterized by great ethical prophets who people revere as the representatives of god or individuals who have directly spoken to god. They are the charismatic leaders like Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed who capture the imagination and fancy of the people.

Briefly, Durkheim denies that religion is basically concerned with spirits and gods. He maintains that society is worshipped to strengthen social bonds and make individuals who are born and who die feel the power and eternity of society. Weber speaks of religion in terms of its creation of abstractions. Thus spirits and gods are reflections of symbolic thought. The role of charismatic, ethical prophets in redefining and remaking religious beliefs is also accounted for.

4. RELIGION AND SCIENCE

Durkheim views both religion and science as providing society with its collective representations. The classifications of science derive from those of religion. Thus there is no conflict or opposition between the two. Weber is not of this view. His comparative studies of world religion show how religious ethics in India and China prevented the growth of capitalism, which basically requires an ethic of mastery of rational calculation. Only the Protestant ethic provided the appropriate world-view for rational capitalism. As Weber views it, science is an expression of rationality and a challenge to religion's traditional and mystical claims. Science provides empirical knowledge or verifiable factual information, which helps human beings to know and master the world. Thus science and religion, in Weber’s view, exist in contrast to each other.

They are dealing with such vastly different societies that their findings are bound to be different. Durkheim sees religion as a means whereby individuals acknowledge society's physical and moral power. Religion is a way of classifying and ordering concepts, thus the forerunner of science. Weber studies religion in terms of its meanings for those who follow it and how these meanings help them orient their actions in other social activities. Science arises as a challenge to religious ideas, driving out ghosts and spirits and replacing them with empirical observations and factual information.

CONCLUSION

Emile Durkheim and Max Weber were two sociologists who mainly tried to make us understand society by taking religion as a base element. They both focused on religion as an important constituent of society. According to Durkheim, there would be no society without the factor of religion, as Weber described his opinion about the significance of religion in terms of individual social life.

Emile Durkheim and Max Weber were not only the two founders of sociology but also the founders of the sociology of religion. These two men, from roughly the same time period and geography, approached their field with due scientific processes. However, while Durkheim viewed religion as the basis and entity of social function, Weber refused to reduce religion to a single theory but saw the importance of religious ideas in the personal realm and the influences it could have not only on oneself but on others surrounding individuals. Both Durkheim and Weber attempted to interpret religion and its social composition. They understood the nature of its utmost fundamental importance and the role it would have in the future of humanity.