SOCIOL 1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Economic Rationalism, Epiphenomenon
Document Summary
A god is a being whom men think of as superior to themselves, and upon whom they feel that they depend. To strengthen those sentiments which, if left to themselves, would soon weaken, it is sufficient to bring those who hold them together and to put them into closer and more active relations with one another. Under the influence of some great collective shock, social interactions have become much more frequent and active. The passions moving them are of such an intensity that they cannot be satisfied except by violent and unrestrained actions, actions of super-human heroism or of bloody barbarism. Thus the environment in which we live seems to us to be peopled with forces that are at once imperious and helpful, august and gracious, and with which we have relations. Society constantly creates sacred things out of ordinary ones.
