Sacred–profane dichotomy

The dichotomy between the sacred and the profane has been identified by French sociologist Emile Durkheim as the central charatestistc of religion: "religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden. In Durkheim's theory, the sacred represented the interests of the group, especially unity, which were embodied in sacred group symbols, totems. The profane, on the other hand, involved mundane individual concerns. Durkheim explicitly stated that the dichotomy sacred/profane was not equivalent to good/evil: the sacred could be good or evil, and the profane could be either as well.

Further readings ibliography

 * C. Renate Barber Sacred and Profane: Some Thoughts on the Folk-Urban Continuum of This Dichotomy Man, Vol. 65, Mar. - Apr., 1965 (Mar. - Apr., 1965), pp. 45-46 doi:10.2307/2797525