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