... He suggests that in worshipping god, people are in fact worshipping society. Society is the real object of religious veneration. Sacred things are considered superior in dignity and power to profane things and particularly to man. In relation to the sacred, humans are inferior and dependant. This relationship between humanity and sacred things is exactly the relationship between humanity and society. Society is more important and powerful than the individual. Durkheim argues that primitive man comes to view society as something sacred because he is utterly dependant on it. Durkheim argues that social life is impossible without the shared values and moral beliefs which form the 'collective conscience'. In their absence, there would be no social order, social control, social solidarity or cooperation. In short, there would be no society. Religion reinforces the collective conscience. The worship of society strengthens the values and moral beliefs which form the basis of ...

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