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Collective consciousness refers to the shared beliefs and moral attitudes which operate as a unifying force within society. This term was used by the French social theorist Émile Durkheim
Émile Durkheim

?mile Durkheim was a France sociologist whose contributions were instrumental in the formation of sociology and anthropology. His work and editorship of the first journal of sociology, L'Ann?e Sociologique, helped establish sociology within academia as an accepted Social sciences....
 (1858–1917) in his books The Division of Labour (1893), The Rules of Sociological Method (1895), Suicide
Suicide (book)

Suicide was one of the groundbreaking books in the field of sociology. Written by French sociologist ?mile Durkheim and published in 1897 it was a case study of suicide, a publication unique for its time which provided an example of what the sociological monograph should look like....
 (1897), and The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912).

In The Division of Labour, Durkheim argued that in "traditional" or "simpler" societies (those based around clan, family or tribal relationships), religion played an important role in uniting members through the creation of a common consciousness (conscience collective in the original French).






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Collective consciousness refers to the shared beliefs and moral attitudes which operate as a unifying force within society. This term was used by the French social theorist Émile Durkheim
Émile Durkheim

?mile Durkheim was a France sociologist whose contributions were instrumental in the formation of sociology and anthropology. His work and editorship of the first journal of sociology, L'Ann?e Sociologique, helped establish sociology within academia as an accepted Social sciences....
 (1858–1917) in his books The Division of Labour (1893), The Rules of Sociological Method (1895), Suicide
Suicide (book)

Suicide was one of the groundbreaking books in the field of sociology. Written by French sociologist ?mile Durkheim and published in 1897 it was a case study of suicide, a publication unique for its time which provided an example of what the sociological monograph should look like....
 (1897), and The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912).

In The Division of Labour, Durkheim argued that in "traditional" or "simpler" societies (those based around clan, family or tribal relationships), religion played an important role in uniting members through the creation of a common consciousness (conscience collective in the original French). In societies of this type, the contents of an individual's consciousness are largely shared in common with all other members of their society, creating a mechanical solidarity
Solidarity (sociology)

Social solidarity refers to the integration, and degree and type of integration, shown by a society or group. It refers to the ties in a society - social relations - that bind people to one another....
 through mutual likeness.

Other uses of the term


Various forms of what might be termed "collective consciousness" in modern societies have been identified by other sociologists, going from solidarity
Solidarity (sociology)

Social solidarity refers to the integration, and degree and type of integration, shown by a society or group. It refers to the ties in a society - social relations - that bind people to one another....
 attitudes and memes
Meme

A meme is a unit or element of culture ideas, symbols or practices; such units or elements transmit from one mind to another through speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena....
 to extreme behaviors like groupthink
Groupthink

Groupthink is a type of thought exhibited by group members who try to minimize conflict and reach consensus without Critical thinking ideas. Individual creativity, uniqueness, and independent thinking are lost in the pursuit of group cohesiveness, as are the advantages of reasonable balance in choice and thought that might normally be obtaine...
 or herd behavior
Herd behavior

Herd behavior describes how individuals in a group can act together without planned direction. The term pertains to the behavior of animals in herds, flocks, and schools, and to human conduct during activities such as stock market bubbles and crashes, street demonstrations, sporting events, episodes of mob violence and even everyday decision...
. It has developed as a way of describing how an entire community comes together to share similar values. This can also be termed "hive mind".

See also


  • Abilene paradox
    Abilene paradox

    The Abilene paradox is a paradox in which a group of people collectively decide on a course of action that is counter to the preferences of any of the individuals in the group....
  • Borg
    Borg (Star Trek)

    The Borg are a fictional pseudo-race of cyborg depicted in the Star Trek franchise. The Borg appear in many , playing major roles in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager television series, primarily as an invasion threat to the United Federation of Planets and the means of return to the Alpha Quadrant for isolate...
  • Collective effervescence
    Collective Effervescence

    Collective effervescence is a perceived energy formed by a gathering of people as might be experienced at a sporting event, a carnival, a rave, or a riot....
  • Collective intelligence
    Collective intelligence

    Collective intelligence is a shared or group intelligence that emerges from the collaboration and competition of many individuals. Collective intelligence appears in a wide variety of forms of consensus decision making in bacteria, animals, humans, and computer networks....
  • Collective unconsciousness
  • Communal reinforcement
    Communal reinforcement

    Communal reinforcement is a social phenomenon in which a concept or idea is repeatedly asserted in a community, regardless of whether sufficient empirical evidence has been presented to support it....
  • Crowd psychology
    Crowd psychology

    Crowd psychology is a branch of social psychology. Ordinary people can typically gain direct power by acting collectively. Historically, because large group have been able to bring about dramatic and sudden social change in a manner that bypasses established due process, they have also provoked controversy....
  • Group behaviour
    Group behaviour

    Group behavior in sociology refers to the situations where people interact in Crowd or small groups. The field of group dynamics deals with small groups that may reach Consensus decision-making and act in a coordinated way....
  • Noosphere
    Noosphere

    Noosphere , according to the thought of Vladimir Vernadsky and Teilhard de Chardin, denotes the "theory of mind of human thought". The word is derived from the Greek language ???? + sfa??a , in lexical analogy to "Earth's atmosphere" and "biosphere"....
  • Peer pressure
    Peer pressure

    Peer pressure refers to the influence exerted by a peer group in encouraging a person to change his or her attitudes, values, or behavior in order to conformity to the group....
  • Singularity
    Singularity

    Singularity may refer to any of a variety of concepts.Mathematics:* Mathematical singularity, a point at which a given mathematical object is not defined...
  • Social Representations
    Social representations

    Social Representations Theory is a body of theory within Social Psychology, and in particular within Sociological social psychology. It has parallels in sociological theorizing such as Social Constructionism and Symbolic Interactionism, and is similar in some ways to Consensus and Discursive Psychology....
  • Zeitgeist
    Zeitgeist

    Zeitgeist is a German language expression literally translated: Zeit, time; Geist, spirit, meaning "the spirit of the age and its society"....