Natural and Supernatural orders ch. 9
Cosmology:
 Beliefs, assumptions and explanations regarding the world
 Entities and forces which controls it
 Human's place in that world
Religion, ritual, magic, mythology, witchcraft, shamanism
Explanations concerning earlier forms of religion:

Animism: Belief in supernatural beings (soul vs. body)

Animatism: Belief in supernatural powers (mana & taboo)
Tylor (1913) created taxonomy of religions.
Animism (Belief in supernatural beings)
 most primitive religion
 a belief in souls that derives from the first attempt to explain dreams and like
phenomena.
Animatism (Belief in supernatural powers)
Mana and Taboo
 Mana
belief in an immanent supernatural domain or life force, potentially subject to
human manipulation.
 Melanesian mana is defined as a sacred impersonal force that is much like
the Western concept of luck.
 The Polynesian vs. Melanesian concepts of mana

Polynesian mana and the related concept of taboo are related to the more
hierarchical nature of Polynesian society.
Magic
involves people's attempts to influence the outcomes of events over which they have no
technical or rational control.
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
Magic refers to supernatural techniques intended to accomplish specific aims.
Magic may be imitative (as with "voodoo dolls") or contagious (accomplished
through contact).
Magic is an instrument of control (manipulation)
Religion serves to provide stability when no control or understanding is possible
(explanation)
Malinowski saw tribal religions as being focused on life crises (e.g. death).
Myths
Are accounts about how the world came to be the way it is,
About a superordinary realm of events before (or behind) the experienced natural world.
(ritual-myth-social structure)
Malinowski (Myth: account of the pasts that serves as charter for the present)
Levi-Straus (explains universal workings of the human mind by looking at varied cultural
forms as its artefacts).
Religion establishes and maintains social order (or it is claimed that it does!)
religions
1.
explain
2.
validate
3.
reinforce human ability to cope with the fragility of human life (illness, death
etc.). Sharing/communality, (what about individual, anti-social forms?)
Religion is
"a belief in spiritual beings" (Tylor).
"belief and ritual concerned with supernatural beings, powers, and forces" (Wallace).
"a set of beliefs and practices aimed at ordering the relationship of human beings to the
supernatural" (Womack)
natural vs. supernatural ? sacred vs. profane ?
Rituals
are formal, invariant acts that require people to join actively in a social collectivity.
Rituals

are formal, performed in sacred contexts.

convey information about the culture of the participants and, hence, the
participants themselves.

are inherently social, and participation in them necessarily implies social
commitment.
Rites of passage
are religious rituals that mark and facilitate a persons movement from one (social) state of
being to another.
Rites of passage have three phases:

separation

marginality (liminality)

aggregation (incorporation)
Liminality (betwixt and between)
is part of every rite of passage and involves the temporary suspension and even reversal
of everyday social distinctions.
Communitas
is a kind of group liminality, characterized by enhanced feelings of social solidarity and
minimized distinctions.
Rites of intensification (cyclical, eg, Passover, Easter)
Ritual Inversions (Halloween)
Rituals solidarity among people
Totems  source of social unity
Totemism
is a religion in which elements of (culturally constructed) nature act as sacred templates
for society by means of symbolic association.
Totems are interpreted as symbolizing social unity.
Religion and Cultural Ecology
The Hindu doctrine of ahimsa has occasionally been cited as an irrational, maladaptive
religious practice.
It is argued that sacred cattle play an essential role in the economy and ecosystem by
being economical beasts of burden and well-adapted sources of fuel and manure.
Social Control
Religion can be used to mobilize large segments of society through systems of real and
perceived rewards and punishments.
Witch hunts play an important role in limiting social deviancy.
Witch hunts also function as leveling mechanisms to reduce differences in wealth and
status between members of society.
Many religions have a formal code of ethics that prohibit certain behavior while
promoting other kinds of behavior.
Religions also maintain social control by stressing the fleeting nature of life.
Kinds of Religion
Religious forms vary dramatically from culture to culture and so religions (despite the
fact that religion is a cultural universal) should be considered as parts of particular
cultures.
However, religious forms do not vary randomly from culture to culture: there is some
connection between political organization and religious type.
(see Wallace typology)
Religion in States
Christian values.

Max Weber linked the spread of capitalism to the values central to the Protestant
faith: independent, entrepreneurial, hard working, future-oriented, and free
thinking.

The emphasis Catholics placed on immediate happiness and security and the
notion that salvation was attainable only when a priest mediated on one's behalf
did not fit well with capitalism.
Religion and Change.
Revitalization movements

Religious movements that act as mediums for social change are called
revitalization movements.

The reformation of the colonial-era Iroquois under the heading of Handsome Lake
is an example of a revitalization movement.
Syncretisms
A syncretism is a cultural mix, including religious blends, that emerge when two or more
cultural traditions come into contact.
(e.g.)voodoo, santeria, and candomlé.
The cargo cults of Melanesia and Papua New Guinea are syncretism of Christian
doctrine with aboriginal beliefs.
New Age

Since the 1960s, there has been a decline in formal organized religions.

New Age religions have appropriated ideas, themes, symbols, and ways of life
from the religious practices of Native Americans, Australian Aborigines, and east
Asian religions.