Uses of the concept of effervescence and the dynamics of collective representations in durkheimian sociology

Abstract

The paper considers effervescence as a central category in Émile Durkheim?s sociology, identifying its uses and functions in relation to collective representations. The aim of the paper is: 1) to contextualize the concept in the field of crowd psychology in 19th century France; 2) to trace the semantics of the concept in the different uses developed by the author; 3) to analyze the distinctive feature of effervescence in relation to nonconceptual collective representations; and 4) to characterize the opposite concept: vie sérieuse. This approach allows us: a) to consider the function of social effervescence without focusing its comprehension solely on the effects that it generates; b) to identify how collective representations work in integrating and regulating social processes, and c) to focus the understanding of collective representations in relation to communication processes.