Durkheim's concepts of the sacred and the profane dominated religious and social commentary for decades. If these two concepts, inexorably linked, are most often linked to religion, we can apply them to the quasi-religion of the “American dream” in order to analyze the lives of Lester and Carolyn Burnham, by Buddy Kane and Angela. Hayes in the film “American Beauty”. In "American Beauty," the characters' experiences illustrate the dichotomy between the sacred and the profane, the morality associated with the sacred and the profane, and the influences of the sacred and the profane on the characters. The sacred and the profane are prevalent throughout the characters. of American Beauty and their motivations. Durkheim’s (1912) idea of ​​fear is that society holds itself to an ideal, the “dream.” In this case, rather than a specific religion, the characters are cradled by the religion of the “American dream”. We know that the “American Dream” is an appropriate source of the sacred because “the sacred does not require God.” Flags, national holidays, and other markers of collective solidarity are sacred in the same way—and serve the same group-binding function—as crosses and holy days” (Graham and Haidt 2011). There are several manifestations of the sacred throughout the film, taking the forms of the beautiful Angela and the successful Buddy. As we see these manifestations of the sacred, we must remember that the power of the sacred is that it has no real existence in the world. Lester, and others like him, have an idea of ​​something higher, more beautiful, freer and greater than what he has. “In a word, above the real world where his secular life takes place, he placed ...... middle of paper ...... journal of economic psychology. 11(1):35-67. Accessed February 13, 2014. (http://www.researchgate.net/publication/4839111_The_sacred_meanings_of_money/file/9fcfd50d80f7b28cb3.pdf)Durkheim, Emile. 1912. “The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life” pp 243-254 in Classical Sociological Theory, edited by Craig Calhoun, Joseph Gerteis, James Moody et al. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2007. Graham, Jesse and Johnathan Haidt. 2011. The social psychology of morality: exploring the causes of good and evil. New York: APA Books. Accessed February 15, 2014. (http://www-bcf.usc.edu/~jessegra/papers/Graham&Haidt.in_press.Sacredness.Herzliya_chapter.pdf)Pickering, FSM 1990. “The eternity of the sacred: the error of Durkheim? Archives of Social Sciences of Religions. 69(35):91-108. Accessed February 15, 2014. (http://www.jstor.org/stable/30114718?seq=2)