Revision summary
Sacred and profane are Durkheim’s two worlds of ritual marking. Religion unites a church around sacred things. The Australian totem stands for the clan. Ritual effervescence makes society felt as a force. Lévi-Strauss later added classification; the social reading still holds.
Model answer
Introduction
Émile Durkheim split the world into sacred and profane. The totem is the emblem that makes the clan visible as a sacred thing.
Body
Sacred and profane
- Sacred things are set apart and forbidden, protected by ritual. Profane things are the ordinary workaday world.
- The split is social, not a list of gods. A rock becomes sacred when the group marks it.
- Religion is the system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, uniting believers into a church.
Totem
- In The Elementary Forms, Australian totemism is the simplest case. The totem animal or plant stands for the clan.
- Worship of the totem is worship of society itself. The clan feels a force, which Durkheim called mana-like effervescence in the corroboree.
- Taboos keep the totem sacred. Eating rules and designs on churinga objects carry the emblem.
Relation
- Sacred/profane is the grammar. Totem is the noun that names the group.
- Radcliffe-Brown kept the social function. Lévi-Strauss later said totems classify, they do not only worship society.
- The teaching point for anthropology remains: god-talk is also group-talk.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD REL[Religion] --> S[Sacred set apart] REL --> P[Profane ordinary] T[Totem] --> C[Clan emblem] C --> S
Conclusion
Durkheim’s sacred is the marked, collective side of life; the profane is unmarked routine. The totem is the clan’s flag, so totemic religion is society made visible.
Quick related
Students also ask
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Critically examine the Formalists' and Substantivists' views on the applicability of economic laws in the study of primitive societies
Next question on this syllabus topic (2015 · Q4(a)). View answer →
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Is the sacred always a god?
No. A flag, a relic, or a totem species can be sacred without a high god.
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Did Durkheim do Australian fieldwork?
No. He used ethnography by Spencer, Gillen, and others. The theory is sociological.
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