The elementary forms of religious life / Émile Durkheim ; translated by Carol Cosman ; edited by Mark S. Cladis.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

-- A definition of the religious phenomenon and of religion -- The leading conceptions of elementary religion: Animism -- The leading conceptions of elementary religion: Naturism -- Totemism as elementary religion: historical review of the question. Method of teaching it -- Central totemic beliefs: The totem as name and emblem -- Central totemic beliefs: The totemic animal and man -- Central totemic beliefs: The cosmological system of totemism and the notion of genus -- Central totemic beliefs: The individual totem and the sexual totem -- The origins of these beliefs: A critical examination of the theories -- The origins of these beliefs: The notionof the totemic principle or Mana, and the idea of force -- The origins of these beliefs: The genesis of the notion of the toemic principle or Mana -- The notion of soul -- The notionof spirits and gods -- The negative cult and its functions: Ascetic rites -- The positive cult: The elements of sacrifice -- The positive cult: Mimetic rites and the principle of causality -- The positive cult: Representative or commemorative rites -- Piacular rites and the ambiguity of the notion of the sacred.

Translated from the French.