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Copying rituals has allowed cultural groups to proliferate over time. Rare, traumatic rituals produce strong cohesion in small relational groups, whereas daily/weekly rituals produce cohesion in expandable communities. This study presents a theory of how these two ritual modes have influenced history over thousands of years.
List of contents
- Introduction
- 1: Overimitation and the Ritual Stance
- 2: Ritual Frequency, Emotionality, and Modes of Religiosity
- 3: Imagistic Ritual, Fusion, and Self-sacrifice
- 4: Doctrinal Ritual, Identification, and Social Complexity
- 5: Ritual's Evolutionary Landscapes
- 6: Challenges for Science
- 7: Challenges for Society
- Epilogue
- Bibliography
About the author
Harvey Whitehouse is a leading anthropologist whose research focuses on the role of ritual in the evolution of social complexity. One of the founders of the cognitive science of religion, his publications include Religion, Anthropology, and Cognitive Science (co-edited with James Laidlaw; 2007), Mind and Religion: Psychological and Cognitive Foundations of Religiosity (co-edited with Robert N. McCauley; 2005), and Modes of Religiosity: A Cognitive Theory of Religious Transmission (OUP, 2004).
Summary
Copying rituals has allowed cultural groups to proliferate over time. Rare, traumatic rituals produce strong cohesion in small relational groups, whereas daily/weekly rituals produce cohesion in expandable communities. This study presents a theory of how these two ritual modes have influenced history over thousands of years.
