Émile Durkheim's Functionalism Theory

As an institution, religion has operated to regulate the religious emotions, beliefs, practices, and to spread and maintain them. For the purpose of this paper I will be using the functionalist and interactionism theories to examine religion.
From a functionalist view, the sociological study of religion. This approach views religion as a functional body within society for the reason that it creates social organization and integration by confirming the bonds that people have to each other. Religious rituals express the spiritual convictions of the members of the religion and help increase the sense of belonging of the individuals to the group. Individuals who partake in religious rituals or practices do so not only for spiritual reasons, but also to communicate their association with the religion and its believers as a whole. Religion allows both the expression and control of emotion which enables the bond of individuals to one another and increases the …show more content…
Durkheim wanted to explain how psychological characteristics in combination with social forces shape suicide rates. Durkheim’s Normative Theory of Suicide used social integration and social regulation and how these social influenced suicide rates. To be at low risk for suicide, Durkheim found that you need to be somewhat in the middle. Integrated into your community with a reasonable set of guidelines and structure. Durkheim’s hypothesis was that the social norms of particular groups, the conditions of the group life, generate variations in group suicide rates. Western religions formally prohibit suicide, rates varied substantially across religious affiliations. Durkheim found that Protestants killed themselves most often, followed by Catholics and