He related religion with mankinds psychological need to communicate in a group setting in order to eliminate it's senses of loneliness. This is accomplished through customs and rituals involving symbols like totems which in his opinion symbolized society as a whole. He believed that these celebrations were ways of social interaction which created gratification in the individual . This was because religion eliminated the individual and made them feel that he/she was part of something greater than themselves. Durkheim reasoned that the totem was like the flag or symbol of the culture he studied and at the same time was symbolic of their notion of god. He reasons that since the totem symbolizes both society and god, the power that society has over its members is awe-inspiring and superior to that of the individual and therefore takes on the role of a god. In this way society is god and the rules and restrictions of religion are one with those of society.
Karl Marx had a much bleaker view of the function of religion as well as it's origins. He saw religion in economical terms. Marx noticed the struggles of the poor and how they were mistreated by society. Through this he formed his theory of a communist revolution. Mar believed that there was too a great a discrepancy between the rich and the poor. He saw high class individuals take advantage of the poor and proposed his economic concept in which wealth would be distributed equally among the masses. He viewed religion as playing the role of mediator in the tensions created between the class struggles of society. Marx believed that religion offered consolation to the poor who he viewed as being taken advantage of by a rich few. He thought that religion was a creation of economics in order to keep the system that had already been created in place. He saw religion as comforting the poor with a promise of an afterlife while at the same time justifying the and protecting the power of those in control.