Education as a religion

What people think of when they think about the education system? Do you go to school out of obligation or necessity or entertainment or knowledge. Maybe people go school to become productive successful members of society. In addition maybe people go school to be with friends . I think education is the force that allows people to share their experiences and beliefs and become involved in the community to advocate for any individual who needs help . Therefore I believe people need to be educated .. As a result I have to share my message of acceptance and Durikem view of the education system as a religion. Even though I think defining education as a religion is a little vague and bold . He should have definitely defined education as a community instead of of a strong system of religious rituals and beliefs. Why do you think individuals go to school? Read my blog on durkerm

Education is the foundation of society and the question facing the United States of America is how to define education in today’s society. Education is a system of rituals in which students and the professors interact with each other. Emilie Durkheim views education as a religion in the context of the social integration within a society. Durkheim believed that all societies are held together by religion and the solidarity of groups. However, it is not religion in the way that we normally understand it, as worshiping a God. Durkheim sees religion as being organized into different groups of people, who all abide by the same belief system and morality. Therefore, those groups of people all follow the same religion because they repeat the same rituals. A ritual is not solitary, meaning that a ritual needs to occur in the presence of other people who believe in the same cause. Thus, Durkheim viewed religion as a belief system in which groups of people regularly reenact a set order of social conduct. In addition, in order to understand why solidarity is so important to Durkheim, we need to analyze education within two aspects. Firstly, Durkheim views the current education model as a “religion,” where the foundations of beliefs are based upon a system of rituals in which people interact with each other in a routine structure and a confined environment. Secondly, we must also study education in context of solidarity. This would be based on the evolution of a society from primitive to advanced civilization through an ideal type of what a society strives to be. This paper will discuss Durkheim’s views on education and how Durkheim sees education as a rigid system, with religion as the only bond strong enough to form solidarity between people. Education forms solidarity between groups of people, however, educational inequality hinders the formation of solidarity and introduces a multitude of structural fractures in the education system.

In order to understand how we developed into a society with a very rigid education system, we need to understand how Durkheim views education as a religion in the context of the social integration within a society. According to Durkheim, there are two ideal types of societies. One society should be built around the concept of mechanical solidarity and another ideal society should be built around organic solidarity. Mechanical solidarity is a society in which there is a closed social system, no individuality, and in essence, a very conservative society is created. Durkheim believes that there is no individuality in a society and he believes that solidarity is the foundation that keeps a society from falling apart. As a result, the only way he sees people creating solidarity with each other is by forming different groups, in which people come together because they have the same beliefs.  

We need to analyze the full meaning of solidarity in order to understand its relationship to education. Also, we must see how Durkheim views the social integration of society. Human beings strive for a society that follows the ideal type of mechanical solidarity. Mechanical solidarity has several elements of altruism, but not in the way we normally understand it. Normally, we think of altruism as helping people simply for the sake of helping them. However, in mechanical solidarity, altruism is defined as a lack of individuality. Everything is based on an obligation to a social group, such as a school. There are many attributes to mechanical solidarity. This includes the fact that it is very rigid and there is no interdependence between individuals. This leads to forming weak bonds, which creates the overall standard of conformity that mechanical solidarity imposes. A consequence of the current education system is that it is becoming a closed system that limits individuality and promotes mechanical solidarity because students only have choices based on their career path and the social stratification of society. Students are forced to conform to one system of rules and are unable to creatively express themselves. There is no agency given to students in the current model of education. Even though mechanical solidarity is a consequence of the closed education system, the division of labor follows a model of organic solidarity.

Organic solidarity is a system that is essentially the complete opposite of mechanical solidarity. In an organic solidarity system, there is high individuality, social interactions, and interdependence.  According to Durkheim, there is “a social solidarity which is arising from the division of labor.” (Calhoun 2012; pg 221) The division of labor is a system that requires a highly developed group people with a specialized skill set. Though according to Durkheim, “we must determine the extent to which the solidarity contributes to the social integration of society “(Calhoun 2012; p.221). Durkheim emphasizes the fact that interdependence of the work force needs people to have a high sense of individuality that creates a network of individuals to serve society. As a result, our unique division of labor is based on the ideal type of organic solidarity. The education system leads students to the work force and so should also be based on system of organic solidarity, so that students can prosper in their own specialized fields of study.

Emile Durkheim would view modern education as a system of rituals and social interactions, where students with common goals interact in order to achieve their specialized careers in unique fields of study in the division of labor. Durkheim believes that a primitive mechanical solidarity society transforms to an advanced organic society. Even though people believe that they have individuality, real individuality is a myth. In other words, the individuality we possess and demonstrate is really an illusion. The limitations of our social system prevents agency. Therefore, society has institutions such as schools which require people to follow a program even when they think they are forging new grounds. We have agency to make our own choices, but our decisions are guided by a narrow social system that hinders independent thinking.

Durkheim believes that a society should have a strong foundation in order to create solidarity among individuals. This foundation keeps people connected to each other in order to maintain the bonds they create in their social networks. Religion is the socially constructed institution, which gives people the opportunities to establish identities and forms solidarity. Therefore, Durkheim believes religion is the social glue that unifies society. As a result, he sees religion as a unified system of beliefs and practices. In this definition of religion, Durkheim avoids references to God and does not include the three major monotheistic faiths (Islam, Christianity, and Judaism). Durkheim would view religion as any organization with a belief system that involves people interacting with one another that are working towards the same goal. For example, he would see Hofstra University as a community of students who have the same goal of obtaining an education. Generally, most (if not all) students engage in this kind of routine. They wake up, go to school, go to their classes, do their homework, make sure it is in on time, and then they come home from school. This means that the education system is a process of rituals in itself because students are always performing these same actions in order to succeed in school. Even though there are many types of individual rituals in each person’s life, individuals that attend universities abide by the rituals of a student. Graduation from a school is also a ritual because every institution has a ceremony for it. Each student gets their cap and gown, professors speak on behalf of the students, and then student’s line up to receive their diplomas in a routine fashion. The ceremony of graduating is therefore considered to be a ritual.

Rituals involve a type of morality that is created when the students abide by the rules of the institution. Morality is based on the ethics of each social group when they perform rituals. According to Randall Collin’s text, “rituals are the source of the group’s standards of morality” (Collins 2004; p 39). Morality is a single system that is based upon the structure of the social group and the individuals that adhere to the rituals in those social groups. No one can break the rules of the social group or else they will be kicked out of that society or social group. Solidarity is based on the rules, structure, culture, social- stratification, and morality of the group. For example, a group of sorority girls have the same religion in a sense that they follow the same rules and regulations. They participate in activities, such as initiating group members. This could be a good example of how Durkheim sees religion as a system of rituals that take place on a daily basis.

Thus the question that arises, is can we survive or function without being a part of a social group? Durkheim thinks that people cannot function or survive without being part of a group and need to create social relationships to build a network. We need groups to form our own identities, which overpowers individuals. As a result, according to Durkheim, the most basic social unit of human existence is a tribe which equates to the social glue that holds a society together. In this case, the education system is similar to a tribe because it is a closed system whereas morality is based on a set of rules and social conduct. Individuals are solely in accordance with the rules of the social group such as a tribe. Without a group, society would fall apart due to the fact that there is no individuality in a social group. From Durkheim’s perspective, society evolved from the tribe to modern civilization, which is based on rules, social stratification, and the division of labor.

Durkheim thinks individuals will not be able to sustain themselves or survive without being part of a group to create social relationships and building a network. This is because all human beings are born as innocent babies who come into the world without knowing anything and so they have to be socialized by various agents. The most important socializing agent besides a person’s parents is an education because education is the main institution that allows people to have access to all of the other socializing agents. Education sets the motion for people to help gain a perspective or world view. Social groups help us learn about social norms, morals, good/ bad behaviors, gaining knowledge, and it helps us build a large well-connected social capital network. Education is needed to achieve your dreams and goals in life in order to be a successful and productive member of society. Thus, Durkheim developed the social network theory because he believes that all individuals need to be part of different groups in order to survive. Moreover, he is a functionalist who sees society as an organism with each individual having a purpose in society. Therefore, he sees that the purpose of the modern education system is to prepare students for specialized careers in a division of labor that requires interdependence to function. This means that each individual has their own unique identity and the division of labor only works if each individual plays its own role in society.

Although he sees society as an organism, Durkheim believes that sociology is the study of social facts. As a result, he defines social facts as, “all phenomena that occur within a society, however little social interest of some generality they present. Yet under this heading there is, so to speak, no human occurrence that cannot be called social.”(Calhoun 2012; p 203).Therefore, to Durkheim, not all actions can be considered social, but the main focus on sociology is to see how the actions take place. As a result, Durkheim says that, “every individual eats drinks sleeps employs his reason and society has every interest in seeing that functions are regularly excised” (Calhoun 2012; p 203). In other words, Durkheim sees sociology as the study of social problems, the different elements of how our social stratification system works, and how every social structure or institution functions with every individual in order for society to maintain social order. Therefore, Durkheim believes everything exists for a reason, even crime and poverty have a function in order to achieve harmony in society. People are also connected to each other. Our social system relies on a system of interdependence where every individual participates in institutions for a society to function. The structure of our society is based on a system of social norms and institutions, not individuality of people’s personalities. People believe that they possess individuality in the process of how we developed ideas, but our individuality does not really exist. People are following the guidelines of our narrow social system and they participate in routine structures. The limitations of our social system prevents agency. We have the power to make our own choices, but our decisions are guided by a narrow social system that stifles independent thinking. Karl Marx sees human as a species being. However, Durkheim sees people as having a collective consciousness in which morality is founded by society’s social norms and repressive laws. In addition, he believes society develops around people’s norms, beliefs, and values which create a collective consciousness, or a shared way of understanding and behaving in the world.

According to Durkheim, the education system is made up of rituals in which students participate in on a daily basis, such as the routine of actually going to school and being a part of a graduation ceremony. Therefore, Durkheim sees the education system as a belief system in which there are different social groups where students engage in many different social interactions with each other as well as the professors. Education can be the foundation that creates solidarity between groups of people with the same goal of sharing/obtaining knowledge. However, when inequality is introduced into the system it may hinder the formation of solidarity and introduces a multitude of structural fractures in the education system. Therefore, the issue of educational inequality within the education system must be brought to public eye. The reason for educational inequality is due to our narrow social stratification system, which creates structural and institutional racism. We must approach this problem because the education system does not provide the same opportunities for of people of different races. Educational inequality also pertains to gender as well. In order to approach this problem, we must analyze all of the different aspects that cause Educational inequality. Inequality in the education system must be addressed in order to allow the education system to become a foundation that fosters solidarity.

Works Cited

Calhoun, C. J. (2012). Contemporary sociological theory (3rd ed.). Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons.

Collins, R. (2004). Interaction ritual chains (Chapter 2 pg 39). Princeton, NJ, NY: Princeton University Press.;