Secular, Spiritual, and Still Quite Religious

A concept from Emile Durkheim on why our secular world might be more sociologically religious than we think.

Photo from canva.com; created by author.

Summary

Emile Durkheim had a very broad conception of religion as a central catalyst of society’s function — religion was a means for collective belonging and collective consciousness to manifest in the world. We may want to reconsider how we conceive of religion and see the religious instinct occupying the majority of civilized life in the 21st century.

Overview

1. Emile Durkheim’s definition of religion.
2. Religion is a natural manifestation of society’s goals within human nature.
3. How a broad view of religion includes many groups and may actually help us engage as a society more meaningfully.

Introduction — Psychology Versus Sociology

When someone thinks of the historic development of psychology, they most likely think of Sigmund Freud. When someone thinks of the field of sociology?

Well, most people probably don’t think of the field of sociology.

Psychology has an aura of prestige — it’s practical, it’s effective, and it…