DURKHEIM CULT OF THE INDIVIDUAL AS CIVIL RELIGION - ITS APPROPRIATIONBY GOFFMAN,ERVING

The purpose of this article is to provide a systematic analysis of the place of Durkheim's ''cult of the individual'' in Erving Goffman's so ciology.1 I have reviewed the most pertinent aspects of Durkheim's soc iology of religion. This article discusses and/or analyzes the develop ment of the cult of the individual primarily within the context of Dur kheim's (1951) monograph on suicide; Durkheim's notions of sacred, pro fane, and ritual; Goffman's two-pronged intellectual heritage; and Gof fman's ''Communication Conduct in an Island Community'' (1953) with re spect to several key Durkheimian concepts. Also discussed are several important secondary analyses-primarily those of Jurgen Habermas and St anford Lyman-which help to further delineate the conditions of the Dur kheim-Goffman link. The final section applies Goffman's sociology to t he case of Evangelicalism and ''political civility.''