ABSTRACT
As Durkheim so brilliantly demonstrated, it is the group that generate sacred symbols amid transcendental sentiments. The very fact that modern Western groups have increasingly failed to produce religious feelings was central to Durkheim's work. Any future model of social organization, be it a civil society or something else, that attempts to redefine an individual-group relationship, and thus to determine the nature of the sacred, will have to confront the central problem of anomie. The grand spectacle has become the epitome of contemporary celebration. With its large-scale technical wizardry and stunning effects, logistical complexity, and vast publicity, it attempts to compensate for the loss of mythology and the absence of a metaphysical presence. It is not difficult to comprehend this crisis of reference in light of the recent disillusionment with Western capitalism and Western socialism, not to mention Communism and Maoism.
