Collective Effervescence

Sociologist Émile Durkheim’s theory of collective effervescence describes an overwhelming sense of excitement, empowerment, and unity. While originally tailored to examine religious phenomena, the theory has proven remarkably powerful in explaining secular experiences, from raves and military marches to sporting events and protest crowds.

The editors and contributors to Collective Effervescence make a deep dive into new waters. They investigate solo experiences, virtual collectivities, low-intensity effervescence, and negative outcomes. Through studies of drug ceremonies, occupational subcultures, bookshops, online activities, and much more, each chapter discovers and theorizes something previously unknown. Collective Effervescence finds new potentials in a familiar theoretical resource.

Contributors: Sarah H. Awad, Pierre Bouchat, Randall Collins, Silvia da Costa, Scott Draper, Lisa Flower, Romulo Lelis, Heather Margrsion, Sharon Mascall-Dare, Ashley Mears, Margit Anne Petersen, José J. Pizarro, Bernard Rimé, Dario Páez, David Sausdal, Daniel Smith, Femke Vandenberg, Brady Wagoner, David Wästerfors, Brad West, and the editors

Sébastien Tutenges is Professor at Aarhus University and Editor-in-Chief of the Nordic Journal of Criminology. He is the author of Intoxication: An Ethnography of Effervescent Revelry.

Philip Smith is Professor and Director of the Yale Center for Cultural Sociology. He is the coeditor of The Cambridge Companion to Durkheim and the author of Durkheim and After: The Durkheimian Tradition 1893-2020.