About the lecture

In this lecture, we introduce some of the core premises of Émile Durkheim’s approach to religion, focusing in particular on: (i) Durkheim’s emphasis on the use of scientific method in the study of society; (ii) his understanding of societies as coherent, organised units, rather than merely collections of individuals, and his central interest in uncovering how social groups come together and sustain themselves over time; (iii) his work The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912), in which he argued that it was religion which enabled individuals to come together in this way; (iv) Durkheim’s definition of religion.

About the lecturer

Professor Sondra Hausner is Professor of Anthropology of Religion and Director of the British Centre for Durkheimian Studies at the University of Oxford. She specialises in the anthropology of religion and culture in South Asia and the thought of Émile Durkheim. Her publications include Wandering with Sadhus: Ascetics in the Hindu Himalayas (2007), The Spirits of Crossbones Graveyard: Time, Ritual, and Sexual Commerce in London (2016), and Durkheim in Dialogue: A Centenary Celebration of The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (2013, editor). She has published numerous articles on Durkheim's work, including for the Oxford Bibliographies in Sociology, and she is on the International Board of Durkheimian Studies.