Exam 3: Theories & People

Social Ritual Model

• Definition: Religion is the primary means of establishing society (it's not just a part of it). Rituals create the "social contract" and give life meaning.

• Key People: Emile Durkheim (Founder), Roy Rappaport (Developer).

Ritualization Theory

• Definition: The evolutionary process where an instrumental behavior (functional, like fishing) turns into a communicativebehavior (symbolic, like a dance).

• Key Person: Julian Huxley (studied the Great Crested Grebe).

Performance Approach

• Definition: A theory that explores how the actions of the body contribute to the knowledge of the participant. It focuses on the "doing" rather than just "believing."

• Key People: Richard Schechner ("Restored Behavior"), Catherine Bell (Embodiment).

Ritual Impoverishment Theory

• Definition: The belief that the West is "sick" or "impoverished" because we have lost meaningful rituals (like rites of passage), and we need to recover them to fix society.

• Key Person: Mircea Eliade

Myth and Ritual School

• Definition: The theory that behind every myth or story lies a ritual of sacrifice.

• Key Person: James Frazer (wrote The Golden Bough).

Intellectualist School (Magic)

• Definition: Magic is "rational but misguided." People use logic, but their premises (connections) are wrong.

• Key Person: E.B. Tylor.

Symbolist School (Magic)

• Definition: Magic should be judged on its own terms; it has empirical psychological effects (e.g., soothing anxiety) even if it doesn't change physics.

• Key Person: Stanley Tambiah.

Victor Turner

Liminality. The "betwixt and between" phase of a ritual where you are neither in your old group nor your new one.

Arnold van Gennep

Rites of Passage. Coined the 3 phases: Separation, Transition (Liminality), and Incorporation (Reintegration).

Ritualized Bodies

The body is like "wax" that society stamps its values onto through ritual.

Richard Schechner

Restored Behavior. Rituals are "twice-behaved behavior"—repetitious and rehearsed actions (like a wedding script).