Émile Durkheim and the Birth of the Gods: Clans, Incest, Totems, Phratries, Hordes, Mana, Taboos, Corroborees, Sodalities, Menstrual Blood, Apes, Churingas, Cairns, and Other Mysterious Things
Abstract
The Birth of the Gods is dedicated to Durkheim's effort to understand the basis of social integration. Unlike most social scientists, then and now, Durkheim concluded that humans are naturally more individualistic than collectivistic, that the primal social unit for humans is the macro-level unit ('the horde'), rather than the family, and that social cohesion is easily disrupted by human self-interest. Hence, for Durkheim, one of the "gravest" problems facing sociology is how to mold these human proclivities to serve the collective good. The analysis of elementary religions, Durkheim believed, would allow social scientists to see the fundamental basis of solidarity in human societies, built around collective representations, totems marking sacred forces, and emotion-arousing rituals directed at these totems. The first half of the book traces the key influences and events that led Durkheim to embrace such novel generalizations. The second part makes a significant contribution to sociological theory with an analysis that essentially "tests" Durkheim's core assumptions using cladistic analysis, social network tools and theory, and data on humans closest living relatives—the great apes. Maryanski marshals hard data from primatology, paleontology, archaeology, genetics, and neuroscience that enlightens and, surprisingly, confirms many of Durkheim’s speculations. These data show that integration among both humans and great apes is not so much group or kin oriented, per se, but orie…
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Group cohesion must be permanently (re-)produced by performing religious rituals, by generating collective effervescence towards the totem, and particularly by cultural transmission.
“rather than being guaranteed by an 'innate trait' (Maryanski & Turner, 1992: 66), group cohesion must be permanently (re-)produced by performing religious rituals, by generating collective effervescence towards the totem (Maryanski, 2018: 259), and particularly by cultural transmission (Henrich & Muthukrishna, 2021).”
From Durkheim, Indoctrinability and the Moral Ambivalence of Human Sociality (2026) · cites this paper as Maryanski, 2018
Cladistic analyses of ape social relationships revealed rather weak social ties in the last common ancestor, except for bonds between mothers and offspring.
“His view was later corroborated by cladistic analyses of ape social relationships which revealed rather weak social ties in the last common ancestor (LCA), except for bonds between mothers and offspring (Maryanski, 2018: 221).”
From Durkheim, Indoctrinability and the Moral Ambivalence of Human Sociality (2026) · cites this paper as Maryanski, 2018
Human nature is not inherently group-oriented, but rather individualistic.
“According to Maryanski (2018: 230), human nature is not inherently group-oriented, but rather individualistic.”
From Durkheim, Indoctrinability and the Moral Ambivalence of Human Sociality (2026) · cites this paper as Maryanski, 2018
The ambivalent effects of oxytocin suggest a bio-social foundation of the bonding effect of group rituals and collective effervescence.
“The ambivalent effects of oxytocin thus suggest a bio-social foundation of the bonding effect of group rituals and collective effervescence (Maryanski, 2018: 190).”
From Durkheim, Indoctrinability and the Moral Ambivalence of Human Sociality (2026) · cites this paper as Maryanski, 2018
Their activation requires collective activity to overcome the egoistic individualism.
“Their activation requires collective activity to overcome the egoistic individualism (Maryanski, 2018: 230).”
From Durkheim, Indoctrinability and the Moral Ambivalence of Human Sociality (2026) · cites this paper as Maryanski, 2018
Human sociality is rather a product of nurture than nature, but dispositions to indoctrinability might have genetically evolved.
“Human sociality is rather a product of nurture rather than nature (Maryanski, 2018: 214), but what might have genetically evolved are dispositions to indoctrinability.”
From Durkheim, Indoctrinability and the Moral Ambivalence of Human Sociality (2026) · cites this paper as Maryanski, 2018
Durkheimian learning is a good candidate to explain how humans compensate their lack of pheromonic markers of group membership.
“Durkheimian learning is a good candidate to explain how humans compensate their lack of pheromonic markers of group membership (Maryanski, 2018): humans easily transmit culture and bond individuals to the group by collective effervescence and strong emotions.”
From Durkheim, Indoctrinability and the Moral Ambivalence of Human Sociality (2026) · cites this paper as Maryanski, 2018
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Pizarro, J. J., Zumeta, L. N., Bouchat, P., Włodarczyk, A., Rimé, B., Basabe, N., Amutio, A., & Páez, D. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.974683 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
“As he conceived it (for a well-detailed analysis of his work, see Maryanski, 2018), this mechanism was key to understanding the evolution of social groups and the development of societies.”
Durkheim, Indoctrinability and the Moral Ambivalence of Human Sociality
Windzio, M. (2026) · Human Nature · doi:10.1007/s12110-026-09531-2
- Authors
- Maryanski, A.
- Corresponding author
- Maryanski, Alexandra
- ORCID
- Maryanski, Alexandra
- Venue
- Routledge eBooks
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Published
- 2018-06-18
- OpenAlex
- W4252503296
- Cited by
- 23
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 1.44
- Type
- book
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Routledge eBooks (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Emile Durkheim and Sociology
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Study and Philosophy of Religion
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Weber, Simmel, Sociological Theory
- Keywords
- Émile Durkheim, social integration, solidarity, collective representations, totemism, social cohesion, great apes, primatology, social networks, cladistic analysis, human evolution, public goods
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