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French Sociologist Émile Durkheim posited the sacred and the profane as two distinct aspects of human life which play into his idea of religion as a social institution. Let’s break it down.
Durkheim first defines the “sacred” as things which are set apart from everyday life considered powerful, holy, or deserving of worship and reverence. Think God, certain individuals, rituals, spirits, sacred “items”, certain ideas, and so on—all things which are not integral to daily life considered powerful and worship-inducing in some manner.
The profane is the opposite: the day-to-day, mundane, everyday world. The profane is not special, powerful, or worthy of reverence. We all live our lives mostly in the domain, with the sacred potentially entering only in short, infrequent bursts.
In fact, while the profane is day-to-day, the sacred is entered violently and all at once. It is often entered via ritual or some kind of sharp trigger.
A quick note — you may note overlays here between Durkheim’s work and that of (also French) Bataille-esque “eroticism”; meaning all that which is deeply self-willed and transgressive.
Furthermore, Durkheim sets up these relationships:
Sacred things are protected by taboos, customs, and rituals.The sacred upholds power hierarchies.“Transgressing” can be implicitly sacred.
He uses that principle note to underpin his view of religion as a social institution, one that plays a vital role in maintaining social cohesion. By classifying certain objects, individuals, and/or places as sacred, religions create a shared reverence, set of values, and collective identity among followers. Rituals which transcend the profane into the sacred reinforce communal bonds, bring people together, and enforce a sense of belonging. Thus he posits religion as not just about personal belief, but also about the maintenance of collective order, through the sacred/profane relationship.
Taboos, e.g. rules or norms that forbid given actions or behaviors, act as protectorates of the sanity of sacred things that reinforce social hierarchies. Violating taboos can lead to social shunning, ostracism, or punishment (of varying severity).
Finally, he points out that transgression may be implicitly sacred since it concerns the violation of taboos, which are powerful and unique experiences that can take on their own kind of sacred significance.
A broad application of Durkheim’s ideas on the sacred versus the profane can be applied to non-religious institutions and how such may create their own form of sacredness, taboos, and rituals to reinforce the hierarchy or order they represent.
So, hope that answers your question about the sacred versus the profane! You can check out my full Religion 101 article list (useful for studying, or just learning!) here.