This book proposes a new representation of Emile Durkheim, as the philosopher and moralist who wanted to renovate rationalism, challenge positivism, reform sociology, and extend Schopenhauer's philosophy to the new domain of sociology. Above all, it highlights Durkheim's vision of sociology as the 'science of morality' that would eventually replace moralities based on religion.

Social Functions of Synagogue Song: A Durkheimian Approach by Jonathan L. Friedmann paints a detailed picture of the important role sacred music plays in Jewish religious communities. This study explores one possible way to approach the subject of music's intimate connection with public worship: applying sociologist mile Durkeim's understanding of ceremonial ritual to synagogue music. Durkheim observed that religious ceremonies serve disciplinary, cohesive, revitalizing, and euphoric functions within religious communities. Drawing upon musical examples from different composers, regions, periods, rites, and services, Friedmann demonstrates how Jewish sacred music performs these functions.

Written by world renowned Durkheim scholars, this book examines the continuing importance of Durkheim's classic text on suicide, and revisits some of the key issues explored.

'If religion generated everything that is essential in society, this is because the idea of society is the soul of religion.' In The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912), Émile Durkheim set himself the task of discovering the enduring source of human social identity. He investigated what he considered to be the simplest form of documented religion - totemism among the Aborigines of Australia. Aboriginal religion was an avenue 'to yield an understanding of the religious nature of man, by showing us an essential and permanent aspect of humanity'. The need and capacity of men and women to relate socially lies at the heart of Durkheim's exploration, in which religion embodies the beliefs that shape our moral universe. The Elementary Forms has been applauded and debated by sociologists, anthropologists, ethnographers, philosophers, and theologians, and continues to speak to new generations about the origin and nature of religion and society. This new, lightly abridged edition provides an excellent introduction to Durkheim's ideas. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

The Social Lens: An Invitation to Social and Sociological Theory, Second Edition is an upper division undergraduate social theory textbook that introduces the student to the major classical and contemporary theorists. The theorists were chosen for the diversity of their perspectives as well as their ability to introduce the student to contemporary theory. Dr. Allan uses a lively informative writing style to engage the students in the eras of social change that spawned the major sociological theories and then applies them to the current era, which also is experiencing major social change.

Much attention has been given in recent writings about religion to fundamentalism and the 'religious right'. But less attention has been given to their opposite - the emergence of a new generation of progressive religious thinkers and organisations on the 'religious left'. "The New Spirituality" is one of the first books to give a comprehensive and authoritative account of this burgeoning progressive religious movement. It offers a clear and engaging analysis of the cultural roots, key ideas and organisational structures of this new faith, assessing its significance in the changing moral and religious landscape of contemporary western society. Gordon Lynch argues that we are witnessing the rise of a new religious ideology which reveres the natural world, connects religious faith with novel scientific theories, and has a forward-looking agenda for society's transformation. "The New Spirituality" will be essential reading for students attempting to understand the shape of religious belief in the twenty-first century.

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This text re-examines Durkheim's science of morality as it is illuminated by Aristotle's philosophy. The author demonstrates, by examining previously unappreciated aspects of the latter's moral sociology, that Durkheim's theory can be compatible with postmodernism.

The author analyzes Durkheim's social theory from the standpoint of critical structuralism. She explores Durkheim's discussion of the relationship between the individual and society. She also addresses the question of Durkheim's understanding of the relationship between the subject and object of knowledge, and the relationship between truth and ideology.

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