Comparison between the Viewpoints of Émile Durkheim and Clifford Geertz on Religion (with Emphasis on Their Approaches)

Subject Areas : Christianity

رستم  شامحمدی ¹ (ندارد)
فاطمه  پاسالاری بهجانی ² (ندارد)

Received: 2013-01-22 Accepted : 2013-02-27 Published : 2012-09-22

Keywords: Émile Durkheim, Clifford Geertz, religious sociology, religious&#x0D, &#x0D, anthropology, the origin of religion,

Abstract :

Religion, as an important pillar of human life, has been studied fromdifferent perspectives, e.g. sociological, anthropological and etc. In thisrespect, the thoughts and viewpoints of great classic sociologists suchas August Comet, Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim and Herbert Spencerand also other scholars such as Clifford Geertz (the great contemporaryanthropologist) were curial elements in forming and developing thereligious sociology and anthropology. The present paper tries toanalyze the viewpoints of Émile Durkheim and Clifford Geertz onreligion. So we firstly deal with the definition of religion and its originand function and finally we compare their views on these subjects.