Ritual as a Missing Link

Ritual as a Missing Link PDF Author: J. David Knottnerus
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317252683
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 187

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Book Description
Up to now, ritual has been under-utilised for studying human behaviour. This book narrows the gap in our understanding of the social causes and consequences of our actions by focusing on the ritualised behaviours that define much of our daily lives. Knottnerus breaks new ground by comprehensively describing structural ritualistic theory. He shows how structural reproduction has occurred throughout the world, how rituals can be strategically used and how power can influence rituals, and how the disruption and reconstitution of ritual is of crucial importance for human beings. This book shows that ritual provides a missing link in sociology and helps us better explain the extreme complexity of human action and social reality.

Ritual as a Missing Link

Ritual as a Missing Link PDF Author: J. David Knottnerus
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317252683
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 187

Get Book

Book Description
Up to now, ritual has been under-utilised for studying human behaviour. This book narrows the gap in our understanding of the social causes and consequences of our actions by focusing on the ritualised behaviours that define much of our daily lives. Knottnerus breaks new ground by comprehensively describing structural ritualistic theory. He shows how structural reproduction has occurred throughout the world, how rituals can be strategically used and how power can influence rituals, and how the disruption and reconstitution of ritual is of crucial importance for human beings. This book shows that ritual provides a missing link in sociology and helps us better explain the extreme complexity of human action and social reality.

The Power of Ritual in Prehistory

The Power of Ritual in Prehistory PDF Author: Brian Hayden
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108426395
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 411

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Book Description
Secret societies in tribal societies turn out to be key to understanding the origins of social inequalities and state religions.

Polar Expeditions

Polar Expeditions PDF Author: J. David Knottnerus
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000641309
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 195

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Book Description
Polar Expeditions employs structural ritualization theory to show how rituals enriched the lives of crewmembers on 19 polar expeditions over a 100-year period. J. David Knottnerus identifies and compares failed, successful, and extremely successful missions in terms of participation in ritual practices and the social psychological health of crews, finding that that social and personal rituals, such as work practices, religious activities, games, birthday parties, special dinners, or taking walks are extremely important in increasing crewmembers' ability to cope with the challenges they face including extreme dangers, isolation, restricted environment, stress, lengthy journeys, and quite importantly the disruption of those practices that define our everyday lives. Besides contributing to our knowledge about polar expeditions, this research yields implications for our understanding of ritual dynamics in other situations such as disasters, refugee camps, nursing homes, traumatic experiences, and a new type of hazardous venture, space exploration.

Coping Rituals in Fearful Times

Coping Rituals in Fearful Times PDF Author: Jeltje Gordon-Lennox
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 303081534X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
This collection of articles reveals ritual to be a unique and powerful asset in healing trauma and broken relationships. Each contribution offers insights on how, in the face of uncertainty, threat and dislocation, human beings feel compelled to 'do something’, usually with or for others, to alleviate their anxiety, fears and sense of powerlessness. The editor and authors demonstrate how the imaginative processes at the heart of ritualmaking contribute to self- and group regulation by healing and mitigating the negative impact of trauma on individuals, collective groups, and even global systems. The authors are a group of remarkable scholars, researchers and practitioners who represent a diverse range of disciplines and subfields, including archaeology, Chinese studies, digital culture, ecological science, philosophy, psychology, psychotherapy, the politics of memory and the preservation of cultural heritage in wartime, ritual anthropology, social research, physics, research on traumatic stress, and peace studies. Students and researchers across the social and behavioural sciences will find this volume useful.

Taoist Ritual and Popular Cults of Southeast China

Taoist Ritual and Popular Cults of Southeast China PDF Author: Kenneth Dean
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400863406
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
Most commentators imagine contemporary China to be monolithic, atheistic, and materialist, and wholly divorced from its earlier customs, but Kenneth Dean combines evidence from historical texts and extensive fieldwork to reveal an entirely different picture. Since 1979, when the Chinese government relaxed some of its most stringent controls on religion, villagers in the isolated areas of Southeast China have maintained an "underground" effort to restore traditional rituals and local cults. Originally published in 1993. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Ritual: Key Concepts in Religion

Ritual: Key Concepts in Religion PDF Author: Pamela J. Stewart
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1623568145
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
Ritual has emerged as a major focus of academic interest. As a concept, the idea of ritual integrates the study of behavior both within and beyond the domain of religion. Ritual can be both secular and religious in character. There is renewed interest in questions such as: Why do rituals exist at all? What has been, and continues to be, their place in society? How do they change over time? Such questions exist against a backdrop of assumptions about development, modernization, and disenchantment of the world. Written with the specific needs of students of religious studies in mind, Ritual: Key Concepts in Religion surveys the field of ritual studies, looking at it both historically within anthropology and in terms of its contemporary relevance to world events.

Interaction Ritual Chains

Interaction Ritual Chains PDF Author: Randall Collins
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400851742
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 464

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Book Description
Sex, smoking, and social stratification are three very different social phenomena. And yet, argues sociologist Randall Collins, they and much else in our social lives are driven by a common force: interaction rituals. Interaction Ritual Chains is a major work of sociological theory that attempts to develop a "radical microsociology." It proposes that successful rituals create symbols of group membership and pump up individuals with emotional energy, while failed rituals drain emotional energy. Each person flows from situation to situation, drawn to those interactions where their cultural capital gives them the best emotional energy payoff. Thinking, too, can be explained by the internalization of conversations within the flow of situations; individual selves are thoroughly and continually social, constructed from the outside in. The first half of Interaction Ritual Chains is based on the classic analyses of Durkheim, Mead, and Goffman and draws on micro-sociological research on conversation, bodily rhythms, emotions, and intellectual creativity. The second half discusses how such activities as sex, smoking, and social stratification are shaped by interaction ritual chains. For example, the book addresses the emotional and symbolic nature of sexual exchanges of all sorts--from hand-holding to masturbation to sexual relationships with prostitutes--while describing the interaction rituals they involve. This book will appeal not only to psychologists, sociologists, and anthropologists, but to those in fields as diverse as human sexuality, religious studies, and literary theory.

Advances in Group Processes

Advances in Group Processes PDF Author: Shane R. Thye
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
ISBN: 0857243306
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
A collection of papers that examines a range of social psychological and group related phenomena, including original research articles, theoretical developments, and general reviews of select topics in the group processes literature.

21 Rituals to Change Your Life

21 Rituals to Change Your Life PDF Author: Theresa Cheung
Publisher: Watkins Media Limited
ISBN: 1780289111
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
Aristotle said 'you are what you repeatedly do'. Most of us have no idea that what we repeatedly do creates our lives, we think our future is shaped by big events, the decisions we make, the thoughts we have but, this book will show you that it is your daily actions that are the key. Over the last few decades neuroscientists and psychologists have discovered that there is more power in 'I do' than 'I think'. However, if an action is repeated enough times it becomes habit but habits lack thought, consideration and presence. To effect long-lasting meaningful change our actions need to be filled with a sense of personal meaning and power – they need to be ritualized. Creating personal ritual in our lives allows us to bring the presence of the sacred into the everyday. The rituals in this book have been designed as symbolic acts providing a framework for anyone to use to create positive change in their lives. The 7 morning rituals are designed to help you 'wake with determination', the 7 afternoon rituals focus on 'living on purpose', and the 7 evening rituals are about 'retiring with satisfaction'.

Greek Myth and Religion

Greek Myth and Religion PDF Author: Albert Henrichs
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110447924
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 632

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Book Description
This volume contains the collected papers of Albert Henrichs on numerous subjects in ancient Greek myth and religion. What was ancient Greek religion really like? What is the reality of belief and action that lies behind the unwieldy sources, which stem from vast areas and epochs of the ancient world? What is the meaning, intended and otherwise, of religious action and speech in ancient Greece? Who were the Greek gods, how were they worshipped, and how were they viewed by those who worshipped them? One of the leading students of ancient Greek religion over the past five decades, Albert Henrichs, the Eliot Professor of Greek Literature at Harvard University, combines wide and deep learning, a pragmatic, incisive approach to the sources, and an apt use of comparative perspectives. Henrichs breaks new ground in discussing sacrifice, libation, cultic identity, religious action and speech, epiphany, and the personalities of the gods. Special attention is devoted to ancient Greek sources on the ancient Persian prophet Mani, founder of Manichaeism. As a group, Albert Henrichs’ papers on Greek religion offer a basic education on Greek myth and religion and constitute a blueprint for serious study of the subject.