Durkheims definition of Religion Application to Political Movements - Essay Example

?Durkheim’s definition of Religion Application to Political Movements Introduction With his last major work, The Elementary Forms of Social Life, Durkheim sought out to explain that religion was founded by society as an apparatus to construct norms and morals. Primarily, he wanted to assert that religion was not supernatural or divine inspiration because of the general things that religion placed emphasis on as well as the effects that religious beliefs had on a society. This book received great accolade because Durkheim utilized a case study of the Australian aborigines, stating that they represented the most elementary form of religion within a society or culture. According to Durkheim, religious representations such as sacred rituals come into existence when groups of people come together and such rites or rituals are aimed at bringing people into a certain state of mentality while keeping them excited. Thus, in essence, religion gave people within a society a form of identification and mark of togetherness (Allen et al, 2012, p.2). His theory on religion was founded on the fact that sociology can be explained using natural sciences as it is a scientific study and in turn it can be proven using an experiment, in this case the case study. However, science is proven using scientific facts; the same cannot be said for religion, as it would be difficult to establish any religious facts. This was the main challenge facing Durkheim as he embarked on explaining religion (Orru and Wang 1999, p.47). Criticism of his work stemmed from the fact that his case study featured ‘primitive peoples’, whose mode of thinking cannot be equivalent to western or rational thinkers of modern times. This was overlooked, nonetheless, because of the imaginative and insightful ideas that he was able to bring to light. It has been demonstrated that there is difficulty or it is of no significance to attempt to prove that religion can indeed be studied as a science; more so, that sacred rituals are a universal concept (Allen et al, 2012, p.6). Political Movements Commonly referred to as political sociology, the study of politics suggests that political parties function in the same way as religious sects. Followers in both cases exhibit the same kind of loyalty where leaders and/or fellow followers are justified or excused for any villainous crimes committed. Another theory explored suggests that even though political parties employ rituals and symbols as modes of self-representation, they are not similar to religious phenomenon. However, they need to be explained as demagogic means needed to preserve and reaffirm the authenticity of power among masses of people. This is referred to as the crowd manipulation interpretation, where the irrational aspects of belief and faith are used in an attempt to determine the impact of politics on the masses. For this reason, politics is termed as secular religion as a system of rituals and symbols are employed and this create an atmosphere of sacredness that, in turn, brings out politics as an object of worship and devotion (Jones, n.d). Following Durkheim’s argument, in order to understand fully religion we must go back in time and analyse religious phenomena historically. This explains why he selected the Australian aborigines as his case study; that however primitive they might have been, it would be significant to discover their constituent and how they gave rise to the modern religions. This is done by comparing constituent elements from both cases. Durkheim insists, nevertheless, that this analysis involving both historical and ethnographic observations is not a conceptual possibility but rather a concrete reality. Notably also, he explained his choice of the Australian aborigines, a pre-modern group stating that it was scientific because there needs to be a foundation for every concept to be rightly explained. This was in contradiction to scholars who use history as a means of bringing into disrepute their modern counterparts (Rosati 2009, p.13). This implies that religion or any other concept, such as evolution, will be considered differently depending on the point of origin attached to it. In the same way, political movements will be analysed and elucidated depending on the point of origin using a concrete system of principles and actions applied (Norris and Inglehart 2004, p.11). Subsequent to this, political movements and religion can be said to share the same similarities as concepts that encompass representations in form of symbols and rituals, and serving the same objective significance and fulfil similar functions. These three features were described as permanent elements by Durkheim and they govern all that is human and enduring about religion. This is applicable to the political movements because they have concrete and human aspects attached to them, albeit they are described in a different way. The aspects attached to political movements are founded upon the structure of politics, where there are three types of structure under which political rule is exercised ruled by few, ruled by many and ruled by one. Under any one of these structures, there exists a concrete system of actions and principles that define the society, which they are executed in. This is based on the fact that people within a society will ascribe to particular norms, values and cultures that go on to define the political structure that matches them (Riley, 1990). Foundation of Political Movements The differentiating aspect of politics from religion is that the former is founded on political ideologies, which comprise of a set of unified views on the nature of politics in its present reality and as it should be. Ideologies can be defined using two characteristics, the first being that an ideology is the result of a single individual in grand seclusion where the example of Karl Marx working in the London Museum can be cited. In addition, intellectual elites create the second ideology with the example of Adolph Hitler as the founder of Nazism being cited. With the latter characteristic, the founder is unlikely to be the publisher and this is positive since if an ideology is shared by only a few intellectuals, it will not be a great agent of change in society. Hence, the rise of movements that hardly ever entail a large number of people whose demography is limited to the adult population. Another crucial aspect of ideology is that it is subject to change frequently brought out by reasoned critics. Frequently, political ideologies are misconceived as being unchanging. Due to this fact, they can be attributed to an additional feature of being prone to generalization and distortion (Riley, 1990). Political ideologies require extensive analysis and several other delimiting factors, a contained timeframe and thoughtful qualifications being predominant. In an effort to gain popularity, these factors will be ignored or watered down rendering the ideology useless or far from its original intention. Where convenient slogans are adopted in place of concepts and cries from rallies drown out qualifications. In relation to this, political ideologies require adoption of a strategy, or in sociology terms broadening of their realm, to convert them into political action. This implies that in order for an ideology to be practical, certain concepts that originally existed have to be adjusted in order for political movements to come into effect. This adjustment will bring into being an absolutely new dimension to the initial set of concepts. This new dimension is fundamental because it evokes emotion in groups of people causing them to develop a kind of attitude and behaviour. Therefore, the ideology is turned into a motivator and movement leaders are able to create emotional appeal for the objectives of the ideology. In turn, a political movement becomes a great force of change to the world and this is owing to the fact that emotional commitment has been developed (Riley, 1990). Relationship between Political Ideologies and Religion Once a political ideology has been extended to establish a political movement and emotional appeal generated, people that agree with the political movement essentially become believers. Following this chain of logic, Durkheim’s definition of a belief becomes agreeable as people within a particular movement believe in its cause and this belief becomes a unifying factor among them. He stated that a belief is not a personal opinion or as a result of a personal religious experience, instead it is a mark of identification and unifying to members of a particular group. In this case, people supporting a particular movement are brought together by their belief in its objectives and goals; and this unifies their efforts and representations of their cause are adopted. For example, items with formulated slogans are adorned by members of a particular movement and these, in essence, turn into their mark of identification (Lynch, n.d). Both concepts are initiated following a set of unified views and description of current realities, in an attempt to bring about change within society. The current realities described may either be that of morality or nature of politics with respect to either religion or politics, within society. As these views are turned into publications, to allow for further analysis, they will be modified because different authors will be involved. Moreover, to arouse a need for change within society, the original set of concepts is watered down to create emotional appeal. This renders them prone to misinterpretation and oversimplification. Both religion and political movements require an emotional appeal in order to inspire support from people. This attribute of emotional appeal defines the human aspect in both, which makes Durkheim’s definition of religion applicable to political movements (Riley, 1990). Because political movements have objectives and goals, they also encompass the permanent element of religion that is objective significance. Often, these objectives and goals are termed as the cause, which fundamentally means what the political movement is advocating for. People supporting political movements will have meetings and thus, interact socially quite frequently. This kind of social interaction ignites them and creates a force that ensures the movement grows. This can be compared to Durkheim’s argument that human belief is founded upon dissimilarity between the sacred and the profane. The sacred, refers to an object that gathers people together, and gives them a sense of identity and purpose. In the case of political movements, the object may be seen to the cause being advocated for. This allows supporters and members of the political movement to share experiences drawn from the cause. On the other hand, the profane refers to an understanding of the figurative representations of malevolence in a society. For example, expensive suits were deemed the figurative representation of capitalists that were indifferent to the poor in the society, thereby making them evil in the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement (Lynch, n.d). Owing to the fact that Durkheim was a rationalist and did not ascribe to any religion, he sought to explain religion from a perspective different from like-minded scholars. His perspective was that there is some truth in religion since it has persisted over time, if it were false or a lie it would have disappeared. This truth he defines as the effectiveness of religion in changing a society and shaping its reality. This can be likened to political movements as they hold a ‘truth’ of their own in the form of creating awareness and stirring up a need for change within society. More so, where the political movement seeks to address an injustice by the elite within society people gain knowledge of this injustice and encouraged to move from a state of complacency. This truth is then supported by objects to which a certain level of sacredness is held. For example, political movements that come into existence where a social injustice has been identified, they are guided by a set of laws such as the constitution upon which every member within a society is subject to. The constitution in this case can be seen to be the object of significance leading it to being the sacred as well. Members and supporters of that political movement will then share their experiences drawing from constitutional rights and freedoms that they may have been denied. This further strengthens the objectives and goals of the political movement as its object is a reflection of social reality and its existence cannot be a lie or false. This allows the movement to keep on over lengthened periods, although subject to change in its core foundation (Lukes 2012, p.12). Noteworthy as well, Durkheim mentions that a religious experience does exist and it has a particular foundation, though this does not imply that this foundation objectively conforms to the idea that believers have of it. In the same way, political movements are seen to have a particular foundation that is a political ideology. When leaders of these political movements manage to amass supporters by creating an emotional appeal, the political ideology is extended a new element included (Giddens and Sutton 2010, p.23). This suggests that the supporters of the political movement, or believers of its cause, will have a different perspective of the political movement. This is because the realm of the political ideology upon which it is founded, has been broadened. Furthermore, Durkheim explains that society cannot have influence as it takes on an action, this action can only be substantial if the individuals that create it are assembled together and carry out the action in commonality. This universal action allows society to develop awareness of itself and recognize its position. It follows then that action is borne by society, and because action is what defines religion, society is essentially the core of religion. Likewise, political movements are made distinct by political action and such action arises from members of society. Hence, political movements have society as their central part (Emile 2012, p.4). Conclusion It would be difficult to demonstrate the specific value of a religious experience using scientific experiments. In the same way, one cannot carry out a case study and fully reveal the value of experiences shared by members and supporters of a political movement. It is thus evident that the two concepts encompass the human element, which cannot be purely and wholly explained through scientific study. Nevertheless, both of these concepts are reliant on social interaction to provide the force that spreads their objective significances and fulfil their respective functions within society, and the world in general. With regard to religion, it is created to define morality and move people towards it whereas, political movements are established to either demonstrate how the politics should be approached or to address injustices within society. Their objective significances determine emotion evoked from masses of people enough to make them believers. Both will have representations in form of rituals or symbols and they will be bound by an object that must be revered. For illustration, with Christianity as a religious conviction, the object would be the Bible and with political movements, the object would be the constitution. Believers in both cases will have to adhere to either of the objects and use it as a guide for their actions and behaviours. Durkheim established a new language of moral education through his book on religious life where his definition of religion can be given loosely as a unified set of belief systems. Besides that, this set of belief systems are instituted upon a structure differentiated through the sacred and the profane. This is applicable to political movements as members and supporters are brought together by their belief in the cause from which the movement is found. This cause is directed by a revered object that is, more often than not, the constitution. Most important, in understanding political movements it would be paramount to look to early philosophers as a guide to how they come into existence and continue to survive. Therefore, we can conclude that Durkheim’s study into religious life can be used to provide insight into political movements. 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