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Book
Mary Douglas · 1966
An anthropological analysis of concepts of pollution and taboo across cultures, arguing that rituals of purity and impurity create symbolic order and meaning in society rather than stemming from fear or hygiene concerns.
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What this book knows
Dirt is matter out of place — pollution rituals map and defend the symbolic order that holds a culture together.
embodiment
They treat the body as if it were a beleaguered town, every ingress and exit guarded for spies and traitors.
PDM-RC-073To understand bodily pollution we should try to argue back from the known dangers of society to the known selection of bodily themes.
PDM-RC-072The unity which they create by their separating and tidying is not just a little home, but a total universe in which all experience is ordered.
PDM-RC-062faith-and-doubt
Surely now it would be difficult to maintain that 'Be ye Holy' means no more than 'Be ye separate'.
PDM-RC-052The Mosaic rules are a valuable discipline which 'prevents the Jews from thoughtless action and injustice' and coincide with what natural reason would dictate.
PDM-RC-041obedience-and-authority
An emotional and prejudiced approach to ritual has led anthropology down one of its barrenest perspectives — a narrow preoccupation with belief in the efficacy of rites.
PDM-RC-1056 published passages · book excerpt · research analysis
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