Durkheim Quotes

“we should not say that an act offends the common consciousness because it is criminal, but that it is criminal because it offends the common consciousness”
― Émile Durkheim, The Division of Labor in Society

“From Fustel de Coulanges to his student, Durkheim, is but a short step. Durkheim's distinction between the sacred and the profane, and his linking of the sacred to the social are but a broadening and systematization of what Fustel had confined to the classical city-state.”
― Robert A. Nisbet, The Sociological Tradition

“Imaginistic rituals, especially more severe types involving high stress, trauma, or other forms of shared intense emotion, can lead to identity fusion. Identity fusion is a visceral sense of -oneness- with other group members where acts of self-sacrifice on behalf of the group are not uncommon. Imaginistic rituals tend to be more frequent among smaller, more closely-knit groups where a strong sense of unity is necessary to accomplish challenging goals (for example, sports teams, Nay Seals, subversive political movements, etc.).”
― Matt J. Rossano, Ritual in Human Evolution and Religion: Psychological and Ritual Resources