The Ritual Animal Imitation and Cohesion in the Evolution of Social Complexity 1st edition by Harvey Whitehouse 0192520975 9780192520975

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ISBN-10 :  0192520975 

ISBN-13 : 9780192520975

Author : Harvey Whitehouse 

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: Imitation and Cohesion in the Evolution of Social Complexity 1st Table of contents:

1. Overimitation and the Ritual Stance
Ritual and Instrumental Stances in Overimitation
Irremediably Opaque Behaviour and the Ritual Stance
Ritual and Instrumental Stances in Magical Thinking
Causal Opacity, Meaning, and Communication
The Evolutionary Origins of the Ritual Stance
Conclusions
2. Ritual Frequency, Emotionality, and Modes of Religiosity
The Modes Theory
The Kivung as Case Study
Modelling Doctrinal-Imagistic Oscillations
Case Studies from History, Anthropology, and Archaeology
Quantifying Ritual Features Cross-Culturally
Modes and the Transition from Foraging to Farming
Conclusions
3. Imagistic Ritual, Fusion, and Self-Sacrifice
Rites of Terror and Group Bonding
Dysphoric Ritual and the Search for Meaning
When Personal and Group Identities Fuse
The Imagistic Pathway to Fusion
Social Consequences of the Imagistic Pathway to Fusion
Fusion and Self-Sacrifice from an Evolutionary Perspective
Conclusions
4. Doctrinal Ritual, Identification, and Social Complexity
The Doctrinal Pathway to Identification and Extended Fusion
Sociocultural Evolution and the Doctrinal Mode of Religiosity
Doctrinal Religions, Credibility Enhancing or Undermining Displays, and Normative Tightness
Relational Mobility and the Doctrinal Mode
Conclusions
5. Ritual’s Evolutionary Landscapes
Are Rituals Evoked or Transmitted?
Proximate Causation and Development in the Evolution of Ritual
Epigenetic Landscapes
Cognitive-Developmental Landscapes
Social-Historical Landscapes
Multilevel Landscapes
Conclusions
6. Challenges for Society
Multilevel Landscapes and Public Policy
Imagistic Pathways to Intergroup Violence
Doctrinal Pathways to Populism, Polarization, and Global Action
Conclusions
7. Challenges for Science
The Unnaturalness of Social Theory
The Two Cultures Problem and the Silo Effect
Diversifying Cross-Cultural Comparison and Collaboration

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Tags: The Ritual Animal, Imitation, Cohesion, the Evolution, Social Complexity, Harvey Whitehouse