Durkeim

• Emile Durkeim was a french sociologist and social psychologist
• Durkeim was one of the main figures in the development of social science
• "Society is God or God is society?" - Durkeim
• Durkeim argues that the conscience is socially conditioned and is an expression of the group's sanctions on the individual
• Durkeim believes God does not exist but is a projection of society's power- a belief in God gives an individual a moral obligation to obey society's demands
• When a society's demands are projected onto an omnipotent God, they become unconditional as disobeying them means disobeying the will of God
• It is not that an action conflicts with the common conscience because it is criminal, but rather that it is criminal because it conflicts with common conscience 
• The conscience is an evolutionary survival mechanism developed through people adhering to shared moral values