ABSTRACT
Durkheim (1995 [1912]) first investigated the mechanisms by which societies create and maintain unity. In his seminal text The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, Durkheim focused on how rituals are a powerful source of social harmony. He theorized that religious rituals produce an energized and focused type of interaction that, in turn, produces a high level of social solidarity. Since Durkheim, several researchers have found that other types of groups also use ritual to create and maintain what he referred to as collective effervescence-a heightened sense of group membership and the assignment of sacred value to items of significance in the group (Aguirre 1984, Grazian 2007, Jasper 1998, Kidder 2006). At the heart of this concept is the notion that items that reinforce the moral order of the group are construed positively, and conversely, those that violate the moral order of the group are considered negative.
