The Collective Effervescence Projects

The Introduction to Sociology class at Centre College read Emile Durkheim's The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. Durkheim describes how small, face-to-face groups create social solidarity when they have a "collective effervescence," a shared emotional experience.

Students in the class went out to gather first-hand testimony from people who had had a collective effervescence that created solidarity in a group. In these webpages, the students describe the background of the group, the event that created the sense of solidarity, the totems that the group uses to symbolize their experience, and the consequences for the members of being part of that group.

Boyle County High School vs. Danville High School (football), by Landon Berry and Kate Pedersen

With McKay Watching Entourage, by David Cooper and Newman McKay

The Collective Effervescence of Delta Delta Delta, by McKinzie Craig and Emily Spalding

The Creation of Unity in a Marching Band, by Berkley Donaldson and Caroline Buchanan

A Choir's Trip to Italy, by Ashley Evans and Chris Russell

Band of Brothers: The Bonding of the Men of E Company, by Dan Fox and Jason Parks

The French Shopping Experience, by Melanie Goff and Molly Reynolds

The Soccer Party, by Kim Hall

A Collective Effervescence of the Centre Swim Team, by Laura Hausman and Andrea Heckman

The Sisterhood of Grey's Anatomy, by Jessica Hickey and Maureen Purcell

Kairos: An Unconscious Collective Effervescence, by Kayley Jerrell and Erica Horton

Day of the Dead, by Meredith McClay and Kara Nelson

They Were There (at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001), by Sarah Wigle and Emily Saad

Coldwater Weekly (high school baseball champions), by Rachel Watkins and Ashley Gregory

An Inseparable Brotherhood (middle school basketball team with ill teammate), by Chase Yaden