served that social periods of disruption, or anomie, could lead to economic depression and war and higher rates of suicide, crime, and deviance. A final sociologically significant concept of Durkheim is that he believed he found an area from replacing religion in society and he formed two mutually contradictory hypotheses: either animism or naturism stood at the origin of religion, and the congregation of spirits was a subsequent development. It was through the critical examination of these traditional theories that Durkheim hoped to reveal the need for a new theory. Animism is the idea that the human soul was first suggested by the contrast between dreams and those of normal experience (Jones, pg. 123). This was the most primitive religion, and naturism its secondary form.The naturistic theory insisted that religion ultimately rest upon a real experience, that of nature (the infinity of time, space, force, etc.) -- which is sufficient to directly provoke religious ideas in the mind (Jones, pg. 124). Religion itself begins only when these natural forces cease being represented in the mind, and are transformed into personal, conscious spirits or gods. Durkheim found that god is nothing more than society apotheosized. It was insisted, for example, that a society has all that is necessary to create the idea of the divine, for it is to its members what a god is to his worshippers. It is both physically and spiritually superior to individuals, and thus they not only fear its power, but also respect its authority.Society can be many things to many people. To Emile Durkheim, society can be both internal and external to human beings and can contain characteristics of the social fact concept. Three of Durkheim's sociologically significant concepts, social organization, anomie, and religion in society are important in the realm of Sociology. In summary, the following quote from the mouth of the original father of Sociology, Emile Durkheim...
