Studies // Cited work
Les formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse [The elementary forms of religious life]
Durkheim, É. (1912). Les formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse [The elementary forms of religious life].
Level E Classical text
What this study supports
Supports historical claims that Durkheim described collective religious ritual as producing heightened shared emotion and renewed attachment to the group. It makes no measured claim, and its ethnographic sources are dated.
- Who was studied
- Not applicable: a classical sociological treatise based on ethnographic reports.
- Design
- Classical text
- Level of evidence
- Theory, classical and historical texts, records and software: no empirical claim of their own.
Claims that rest on it
Each claim states what the site asserts, at what strength, and with what caveat.
EmpiricalLevel CConfidence MODERATE
Studies of marches and demonstrations found participation associated with stronger collective identity, social integration, efficacy and positive affect, mediated by perceived emotional synchrony, consistent with Durkheim's prediction of collective effervescence.
- Scope
- Participants in collective gatherings, measured during or shortly after the event.
- Caveat
- Most designs are correlational; people who choose to attend may differ from those who do not, and long-term effects are not established.
Last reviewed · Review due · collective-gatherings-perceived-synchrony
TheoreticalLevel DConfidence MODERATE
Sociological and psychological theories propose that rituals generate shared emotional energy and group symbols and regulate emotions, performance states and social connection through their physical form and their meaning.
- Scope
- Theoretical frameworks for ritual across sociology and psychology.
- Caveat
- The frameworks generate predictions; many are tested only in short laboratory or single-site field studies.
Last reviewed · Review due · ritual-regulatory-functions