Status Updates From The Righteous Mind: Why Goo...

“Durkheimian higher-level sentiments is "collective effervescence," which describes the passion and ecstasy that group rituals can generate. As Durkheim put it: "The very act of congregating is an exceptionally powerful stimulant. Once the individuals are gathered together, a sort of electricity is generated from their closeness and quickly launches them to an extraordinary height of exaltation." ”

So far so good. Really nice introduction, clear map of his logic, and a great quote from Matthew (Matthew 7:3-5)

“Durkheim frequently criticized his contemporaries, such as Freud, who tried to explain morality and religion using only the psychology of individuals and their pairwise relationships. (God is just a father figure, said Freud.) Durkheim argued, in contrast, that Homo sapiens was really Homo duplex, a creature who exists at two levels: as an individual and as part of the larger society."

“Ehrenreich was surprised to discover how little help she could get from psychology in her quest to understand collective joy. Psychology has a rich language for describing relationships among pairs of people, from fleeting attractions to ego-dissolving love to pathological obsession. But what about the love that can exist among dozens of people?”