The Elemantary forms of Religious life and Durkheim

Emile durkheim (1858-1917) is one of the funders of sociology and one of the most influential figures in this field. By writing his book chr('39')chr('39')the Elemantary forms of religious lifechr('39')chr('39') he consolidated sociological approach to religious and he was pioneer for many years in this field. This approach tries to introduce religion as a social institution with certain problems and dimensions. The elementary form is one of the perfect instances of such approach. In this book durkheim toies, with reference to the finding of anthropologists to introduce one of the primitive religions, totemism according to which religion is nothing other than the manifestation of the wish. Of people and all religious rules possess social function and their goal is to consolidate  the spirit of solidarity among the members of society. The ideas of religious studies it also criticises his idea the nature and function of religion. Key words: religions, sociological approach to religion, Durkheim, Sociologyk of religion.