The Ritual Animal
Imitation and Cohesion in the Evolution of Social Complexity
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Published:25th Nov '21
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
A radical exploration of how rituals have influenced history over thousands of years. From infancy, we copy those around us in order to be like others, to be one with the tribe. Other primates will copy behaviour that leads to transparent benefits, such as access to food, but only humans promiscuously copy actions that have no obvious instrumental purpose. The copying of causally opaque behaviour (rituals) has allowed cultural groups to proliferate over time and space. The frequency and emotional intensity of ritual performances constrains the scale and structure of cultural groups. Rare, traumatic rituals (e.g. painful initiations) produce very strong social cohesion in small, relational groups such as military battalions or local cults whereas daily and weekly rituals (e.g. collective praying in mosques, churches, and synagogues) produce diffuse cohesion in indefinitely expandable communities. This pioneering study presents a theory of how these two 'ritual modes' have influenced the course of human history over many thousands of years and continue to shape the groups we live in today. The resulting programme of research offers a radically new paradigm for the social sciences, one that bridges across disciplinary silos, samples the full diversity of the world's populations, and plumbs our richest sources of information about cultural systems, past and present. In doing so, leading anthropologist Harvey Whitehouse shows how we can modify the way we tackle some of the most pressing challenges of our day, from violent extremism to global heating. All the problems humanity creates are ultimately problems of cooperation. Solving these problems will require social glue. Whitehouse suggests various practical ways in which our growing knowledge about the role of ritual in group bonding can help us achieve a more peaceful and prosperous future, not only for ourselves but for all species who share the planet with us.
The Ritual Animal is a compilation of decades of work on ritual. This work has been foundational for understanding religion, imitation, and group identity and behavior. Modes Theory, and the supporting empirical work, has laid the groundwork for many different avenues of research. * Emily Burdett, Assistant Professor,Faculty of Science, University of Nottingham *
Probably the most impressive and important overview of work in the science of culture (not just religion or ritual) that exists today. * Justin Lane, Senior Researcher, Center for Modeling Social Systems *
Reaching across disciplinary and methodological divides, as well as across geographic and historical boundaries, The Ritual Animal brings a wealth of scholarship in the human sciences to bear on our understanding of ritual. * Jonathan Lanman, Senior Lecturer,School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, Queen's University Belfast *
Whitehouse's call for multidisciplinary and problem-centered approaches to research is especially important if our species is to thrive in the coming centuries. * Jennifer Larson, Professor of Classics, Kent State University *
Whitehouse's Ritual Animal is an extraordinarily rich array of arguments, references to earlier research, empirical evidence, experimental results, and modeling. * Luther H. Martin, Emeritus Professor, Cognitive Science of Religion, University of Vermont *
Harvey Whitehouse and his collaborators have built an extensive research program investigating rituals from a cognitive and evolutionary perspective. The Ritual Animal presents a compelling synthesis. * Mark Stanford, Research Fellow, National University of Singapore *
Whitehouse shows how his magisterial theory concerning modes of religiosity also offers a rich and compelling account of the social and psychological foundations of the formation of and the cooperation within human groups. Elegantly written, clearly argued, and deeply insightful, The Ritual Animal is an intellectual feast * Robert N. Mccauley, Emory University *
From big-data mining of the world's historical and ethnographic record to field studies spanning the tribal cultures of New Guinea to the war zones of the Middle East, the reader of The Ritual Animal discovers the science underlying the seemingly arbitrary and irrational rituals that bind together friends or strangers or even humanity as a whole. * Scott Atran, CNRS *
In a magisterial survey from pre-history to mass society, from birth to the afterlife, from football fans to terrorists, Harvey Whitehouse offers a compelling, ambitious and testable theory of why we human beings devote so much time and effort to activities with so little instrumental benefit. * Paul Harris, Harvard University *
ISBN: 9780199646364
Dimensions: 242mm x 167mm x 21mm
Weight: 534g
252 pages