Revision summary
Durkheim: sacred and profane as the basic religious classification. The sacred is society’s force in ritual and church. Festivals and civil religion still fit. Weber, Marx, and gender show meaning and domination the split misses. Lived religion often leaks across the border.
Model answer
Copper italics in this answer — like this — are the key facts. Each one is unpacked in the Facts & figures rail.
Introduction
Emile Durkheim treated the sacred and the profane as the elementary classification of religious life. The sacred is set apart and forbidden; the profane is ordinary practical life. Assessment must keep the power of that split and its limits for salvation religions and inequality.
Body
The notion
- In The Elementary Forms, religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, uniting a church.
- The sacred is society’s ideal force, felt in collective effervescence.
- Taboo and ritual maintain the border.
Assessment, strengths
- It explains ritual solidarity without requiring a particular god.
- National days, stadiums, and Indian public festivals still mark space and time as set apart.
- Robert Bellah’s civil religion is a Durkheimian cousin.
Assessment, limits
- Max Weber stressed theodicy, prophets, and inner-worldly asceticism, which a clan totem model underplays.
- Karl Marx stressed class veil and protest. The “church” is stratified by caste and gender.
- Everyday lived religion mixes kitchen and shrine, so the border is leaky.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD REL[Religion] --> S[Sacred set apart] REL --> P[Profane ordinary] S --> E[Effervescence church] W[Weber Marx gender] --> LIM[Limits]
Conclusion
The sacred–profane split remains a strong tool for ritual and group ideal. It is a weaker tool for meaning, domination, and porous domestic worship. Use it for solidarity; do not use it as the whole of religion.
Quick related
Students also ask
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What is new in 'new social movement '? Elaborate your answer with special reference to India
Next question on this syllabus topic (2017 · Q6(b)). View answer →
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Is the flag sacred in Durkheim’s sense?
It can be, if set apart by ritual interdicts. It may lack a full church.
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Did he deny gods?
He explained gods as society represented. He did not study them only as error.
Same topic · past papers
UPSC has asked this before
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2020 · Q5(e) · Sociology GS 1 · 10 marks
Does the institution of marriage continue to be sacred in Indian society? Comments. -
2017 · Q4(a) · Sociology GS 1 · 20 marks
What is Weberian critique of Marxist notion of social stratification
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