profane

Examples of profane in the following topics:

• The Sacred and the Profane

  • Emile Durkheim posited the sacred–profane dichotomy as central to all religion, but critics suggest this theory is too eurocentric.
  • The sacred–profane dichotomy is an idea posited by French sociologist Émile Durkheim, who considered it to be the central characteristic of religion: "religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden."
  • The profane, on the other hand, involved mundane individual concerns.
  • Durkheim explicitly stated that the sacred/profane dichotomy was not equivalent to good/evil.
  • The sacred could be good or evil, and the profane could be either as well.

• Definitions of Religion

  • Durkheim argued that the definition of religion hinged on the distinction between things that are sacred (set apart from daily life) and things that are profane (everyday, mundane elements of society).
  • As is the case with the sacred/profane typology, this definition is also often critiqued for being broad and overly encompassing.

• Defining Boundaries

  • He saw the symbolic boundary between the sacred and the profane as the most profound of all social facts, and the one from which lesser symbolic boundaries were derived.

• The Elements of Religion

  • Durkheim also identifies collective interests and group unity as part of the sacred, whereas individual concerns fall into the profane category.