Religion, Ritual, Magic

Religion, Ritual, Magic

Religion has long been thought of as a way to provide structure for society.

Emile Durkheim, sociologist, late 1890s-1910s:

∙ Religion is a system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things

∙ It unites people into a moral community and teaches right/wrong

Durkheim is one of the first Western thinkers to explore how a person’s social context affects the way they perceive the world.

Magic - words, items, or actions done to compel a supernatural entity to behave in some way

Contagious magic: something that was part of, or in contact with, something else can carry those qualities.

Sympathetic magic: whatever magic is performed imitates the desired outcome.

Symbols - anything that represents something else.

Shared symbols are an important part of belief communities.

Taboo - something prohibited because it is considered either too sacred or too profane (for an ordinary person)

Ritual - act(s) repeated, usually over years or generations, that embody beliefs and create a sense of continuity and belonging.

Rite of passage - A ritual or event marking an important stage in life - often birth, death, puberty, or marriage

Why do we participate in rituals?

Functionalism: Individual needs

Structural Functionalism: Societal needs

French Structuralism: Hardwired in your brain (binary opposites)

Contemporary Anthropologist view of Religion:

Myths, stories, symbols - and how they relate to beliefs and the community

▪ Ritual activities that reinforce, recall, instill, and explore beliefs

Organizations and communities that teach, preserve, and implement belief

▪ Leaders and specialists in these communities

*Variation in organized religion across space and time

*Intersections of religion and other behaviors, individual or group identities, and social phenomena

How do religions, or people’s involvement in religion, change?

Syncretism:

The process by which elements of one religion are assimilated into another religion, resulting in a change in the fundamental tenets or nature of those religions. Sometimes a new religion results, but not always

Ex: Christmas and Easter, Afro-Brazilian Candomble, “The Three Teachings”

Can you find any examples of syncretism in today’s material? (India’s Sacred Cow, Life in the Fast Lane)

The classic functionalist: Bronislaw Malinowski

In the Trobriand Islands, people had a lot of magical practices when they were fishing in rough, shark-infested water beyond the reef. But, if they were fishing in a lagoon, it was treated as an everyday activity and there were no magic / rituals.

Malinowski reasoned that magical practices were more likely to occur around the parts of life that were most uncertain. This is the idea behind Gmelch’s discussion of Baseball Magic.

Malinowski’s functionalism was based on the idea that, since society is made up of individuals, what is good for the individual is ultimately good for the group.

Fetish: An object to which you attribute some kind of extraordinary power (beyond the properties of the item itself). This power can be good or bad. If you’re obsessed with it, it’s because you’re giving it so much power.

The classic structural-functionalist: A.R. Radcliffe-Brown

Society is a set of self-perpetuating relationships, and things work to maintain society.

Joking relationships

∙ Symmetrical and asymmetrical

∙ Examples: mother-in-laws and uncles

Materialism takes the functionalist parts of both and really focuses in on it

There are several varieties of materialism:

● Neo-evolutionary - tries to bring back evolutionary theory

● Cultural materialism (Marvin Harris)

● Cultural ecology

● Marxist But they all share a focus on technology and economic factors - they believe this is what shapes culture.