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Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions · Model answer

“According to Durkheim, the essence of religion in modern society is the same as religion in primitive society.” Comment.

  • UPSC 2014
  • Sociological Thinkers

Émile Durkheim chose Australian totemism in The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912) not as a curiosity but as the "simplest" case in which the essence of all religion could be seen without later accretions. The statement is therefore his own methodological wager: forms change, essence does not.

You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions.

What the full answer covers

  • What the "essence" is
  • Why the essence persists in modern society
  • Arguments against the claim
  • Conclusion

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