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Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo (Routledge Classics series) by Mary Douglas. Read online, or download in secure PDF or secure ePub format. 1 From Purity and Danger: An analysis of the concepts of pollution and taboo by Mary Douglas ©1966 Chapter 6 POWERS AND DANGERS G RA NTEDH ISO PL; it also provides the materials of pattern.
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In Purity and Danger Mary Douglas identifies the concern for purity as a key theme at the heart of every society. In lively and lucid prose she explains its relevance for every reader by revealing its wide-ranging impact on our attitudes to society, values, cosmology and knowledge. Purity and Danger by Professor Mary Douglas, 955, download free ebooks, Download free PDF EPUB ebook. Purity and Danger, first published in 1966, justly deserves its place as a classic, and the issuing of a new edition, together with a new self-critical preface, solidifies this position.
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Professor Douglas makes points which illuminate matters in the philosophy of religion and the philosophy of science and help to show the rest of us just why and how anthropology has become a fundamentally intellectual discipline.
Published November 17th 2002 by Routledge (first published 1966)
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Your final book, Purity and Danger, is considered a key text for social anthropology students. Why?
It’s regarded as quite old-fashioned now and the author Mary Douglas, who died recently, somewhat recanted on many of the things that she said. But, for me and still for many of my students, it’s a book that really opened my eyes. It showed me that you could theorize about things that you had always taken for granted and thought didn’t need e...more
Your final book, Purity and Danger, is considered a key text for social anthropology students. Why?
It’s regarded as quite old-fashioned now and the author Mary Douglas, who died recently, somewhat recanted on many of the things that she said. But, for me and still for many of my students, it’s a book that really opened my eyes. It showed me that you could theorize about things that you had always taken for granted and thought didn’t need e...more
This book is, of course, a classic. I mean, what does one really say about a classic of structuralist anthropology? The imprint of structural linguistics on this one is so fresh that at times it almost seems like a quaint historical document more than anything else. In any event, there's an easy mastery in the way that Douglas performs what is now a fairly standard maneuver. Find an opposition upon which some kind of subordinating value is founded, demonstrate that each side of the opposition ne...more
Mary Douglas' Purity and Danger? Oh, you mean the Bullshitter's Bible? Yes. I've read that. If by 'read' you mean I've skimmed through it to find points vague enough to support a thesis imposed on me by a deconstructionist advisor, then yes, I've read it. The beauty of this text is that one can use it to back up pretty much anything. I used it to show that the Holocaust arose from an 'either/or' thinking that sparked terror at the idea of the Jew as simultaneously German and non-German. I recent...more
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Aug 21, 2007Anna rated it it was amazing
It is an anthro classic about the meaning of purity and pollution. Douglas argues that many of the taboos regarding 'polluted' or unclean objects in various societies have more to do with moral and symbolic impurity rather than actual hygiene. For one thing, she argues, things that cannot be neatly categorized into some preexisting and understandable category, are often considered impure /taboo/ dangerous.
Aug 18, 2011Emily added it
The most surprising thing about reading Mary Douglas's 1966 anthropological classic Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo, was my sheer enjoyment of the thing. This is a theoretical work, written less for a lay audience than for Douglas's fellow cultural anthropologists, and yet her style is clean and lively, with barbs of wit to keep things interesting. ('This fashionable presentation,' she quips at one point, 'was supported by no evidence whatever.') As a result, it...more
Gabrys and other waste theorists turn to Douglas as a starting point for thinking about the relationship between dirt and systems and then variously amend her conclusions and criticize her methods. Gabrys represents Douglas as attentive to dirt as marking the boundaries of systems then presents as Serres as a necessary innovation in this thinking: “We cannot know systems without their dirt, he suggests” (670). But--Douglas’ other contribution is her emphasis on rituals of cleansing and polluting...more
Filled with lively British wit!
The biggest assumption: everyone, everywhere, all the time, wants order in the world. That's what people do: whip up systems from molehills.
The next bigger assumption: everyone, everywhere, all the time build those systems from symbols. (cf Southwest Airlines: A Symbol of Freedom).
Analagous to L-S's culture always striving to overwrite nature - frameworks of 'purity' protect, integrate, neutralize 'danger.'
Chapter one gives you a fun ride down memory lane - remembe...more
The biggest assumption: everyone, everywhere, all the time, wants order in the world. That's what people do: whip up systems from molehills.
The next bigger assumption: everyone, everywhere, all the time build those systems from symbols. (cf Southwest Airlines: A Symbol of Freedom).
Analagous to L-S's culture always striving to overwrite nature - frameworks of 'purity' protect, integrate, neutralize 'danger.'
Chapter one gives you a fun ride down memory lane - remembe...more
Ok, this was a pretty dry, academic read so I skimmed large parts of the book and re-read some of the core parts of it. Here's what I got from it:
Humans have an innate (biological?) need to categorise. It's what helped tribes to navigate this complex world to know what to eat and what not to, as well as understand and exploit tribal social structures. Those who understood social structures thrived. Categorization helped them make better decisions regarding food and society. It's no accident that...more
May 16, 2017Celine rated it liked itHumans have an innate (biological?) need to categorise. It's what helped tribes to navigate this complex world to know what to eat and what not to, as well as understand and exploit tribal social structures. Those who understood social structures thrived. Categorization helped them make better decisions regarding food and society. It's no accident that...more
Shelves: subject-anthropology, non-fiction, subject-religion
Fascinating in its thesis that all societies are preoccupied with dirt and cleanliness. Especially her statement that our own ideas on cleanliness are arbitrary, and not based on an objective criterium of hygiene, is highly relevant and inviting.
On the other hand, I found the book to be quite the product of its time. Douglas for examples argues for using the term 'primitive' when referring to cultures that are less technologically advanced. I wonder whether such an 'us vs. them' mentality makes...more
On the other hand, I found the book to be quite the product of its time. Douglas for examples argues for using the term 'primitive' when referring to cultures that are less technologically advanced. I wonder whether such an 'us vs. them' mentality makes...more
Some faults in methodology (Chapter 3, ‘The Abominations of Leviticus’), but these are acknowledged in the foreword to the 2002 edition (underlining the need to read around the work itself when approaching theses that can be considered classics). Interesting concepts of the interplay between the taboo and the holy, morality and cleanliness, purity and danger; how societies frame their worlds. Readable, with occasional humorous comments from the author. A good look at literary defamiliarization -...more
Wonderful book!
This text is great for understanding why (and when)items are considered dirty or taboo. Why is hair on your head considered clean but the same hair fallen from your head considered dirty or gross? Simply because the organization system of the mind sees it as matter out of place!
Great for understanding societal rules, such as those for Jews found in Leviticus, and our own uneasiness towards cultural taboos.
This text is great for understanding why (and when)items are considered dirty or taboo. Why is hair on your head considered clean but the same hair fallen from your head considered dirty or gross? Simply because the organization system of the mind sees it as matter out of place!
Great for understanding societal rules, such as those for Jews found in Leviticus, and our own uneasiness towards cultural taboos.
A really cool thesis: all societies have some sort of purity code inherent in their system and that code is not primarily utilitarian--keeping away demons or germs--but symbolizes the order of the community. Dirt is always going to be arbitrarily defined by the society's notion of disorder. Like the cuisine book, this makes Leviticus just a little more understandable.
After the thesis and some cool explication, it quickly turns technical and thus unbearable for a non-professional.
After the thesis and some cool explication, it quickly turns technical and thus unbearable for a non-professional.
If you've ever suspected that 'primitive' peoples aren't nearly so stupid as we are often lead to believe, this book is a great place to start. Not only does Douglas highlight the logic inherent in all kinds of cultural systems, she shows that moderns are just as prone to developing such systems as pre-moderns. A great account of human nature.
Despite its many detractors, I found this book fascinating. It gave me a new outlook on many women's issues, particularly in studies in religions. It's a must have for anyone wanting to explore purity/pollution taboos.
outdated, problematic methodology for an anthropological study, but faults acknowledged by the author in the foreword to the new edition. still, an interesting and insightful exploration of a previously untouched subject.
Jul 29, 2011Linda rated it really liked it
I read this book way back in University and it changed the way I have thought about culture ever since. Not an easy read, but interesting and extremely worthwhile.
This is one of my favorite anthropology books, even if I would have preferred less on the Old Testament and more information about contemporary societies and the little taboos of everyday life.
I came to this book looking for some inspiration re modern environmentalist culture’s outlook on chemical pollution. I knew that this was not the topic of the book but I was hoping perhaps for some transferability. Alas, the ideas within were not transferable in any meaningful manner I could make out.
This book contains exactly one coherently developed argument - an attempt to explain the dietary restrictions in Leviticus by reference to an alleged abhorrence of inter-categorized forms of being...more
This book contains exactly one coherently developed argument - an attempt to explain the dietary restrictions in Leviticus by reference to an alleged abhorrence of inter-categorized forms of being...more
Nov 09, 2017Julian rated it it was ok
'Taxonomy and Taboo'; Frazer is out, but Freud is in. I still find the idea by which this book was recommended to me, that concepts of impurity come from things which do not fit cleanly into a taxonomic scheme, to be intriguing, but I found this book unconvincing. There are sections which are all citation, where no idea is really developed, and then there are sections filled with assertions and assumptions that demand significantly more citation and justification.
Now that I've read it, I would a...more
Now that I've read it, I would a...more
May 28, 2018Kevin Fitzpatrick rated it really liked it
Data filled, wide-ranging in its scope, and profound in its meditations on the nature of man and his taboos, Mary Douglas's 'Purity and Danger' is an important overview of the issue of prohibitions and the sacred from a classic source. So, while some of the book has been superseded by more recent research, the book itself still offers a worthwhile insight into how purity and danger plays itself out in cultures both modern and primitive. By the time the book ends, with a discussion of the sacred...more
In Purity and Danger Mary Douglas identifies the concern for purity as a key theme at the heart of every society. In lively and lucid prose she explains its relevance for every reader by revealing its wide-ranging impact on our attitudes to society, values, cosmology and knowledge. The book has been hugely influential in many areas of debate - from religion to social theory. But perhaps its most important role is to offer each reader a new explanation of why people behave in the way they do. Wit...more
A classic work that revolutionised how Anthropology dealt with concepts of ritual pollution and purity. Mary Douglas criticises and debunks the claims of Robertson-Smith and Sir James Frazer that so-called primitive cultures were, collectively and individually, unable to distinguish between the 'sacred and the profane'. However, Douglas does recognise the vital role both scholars played as pioneers of Anthropology as a discipline and attributes many of their misunderstandings to zeitgeist and co...more
Nov 27, 2018Petra rated it liked it · review of another edition
I can see why Purity and Danger is claimed as a classic for cultural anthropology but I found this a bit too repetitive and outdated to my taste. Douglas uses the term 'primitive' too liberally to describe all the communities that aren't as skilled with technology as Western cultures. Still, I found the book very eyeopening and I can imagine that the theory of pollution is something that can be pretty much used in any essay on cultural anthropology.
With all the inherent limitations of the field and the fact that quite a bit of this is dated, it's still a good start at thinking of purity independent of hygiene, morality, and the other ways modernists have tried to make sense of expurgation rituals.
The language in this book is dated, but the information and subject of study - dirt and pollution - remains useful, even if just historically. One can see in Douglas later shifts toward more imaginative writing in Anthropology.
Mar 18, 2019Gilles Achache rated it it was amazing
Brilliant, Mary Douglas is one of the best, wish more people would read this. Great for getting discussions going @ uni lectures.
Jul 28, 2017J.W.D. Nicolello rated it really liked it
Good read for a slow shift at work with citation potential ala hypothetical students of [hermeneutical] suspicion(s).
Dec 20, 2016Rodney Harvill rated it liked it · review of another edition
Purity And Danger Mary Douglas
I read this book because it had been cited by a commentator, Gordon Wenham, in his interpretation of the cleanliness rules of Leviticus. Dr. Douglas, an anthropologist, discusses different functions purity rules serve in various cultures, one of which is Old Testament Judaism. While the subject matter can be a bit arcane, she manages to keep the concepts within reach of laymen.
One example of Dr. Douglas keeping the subject matter grounded is her definition of pollution, something out of place or...more
One example of Dr. Douglas keeping the subject matter grounded is her definition of pollution, something out of place or...more
Jan 14, 2016Gustaf Nilsson rated it really liked it
Mary Douglas Purity And Danger Pdf
I had to come back to this book and change the rating as I reached the end of it and realised that it had more to offer than I first thought. The subject seemed at first rather strange and not worth the while. Moreover, when it comes to this kind of work where focus lies both on very particular points and on big and fundamental questions, there always tends to be a bit of a struggle first finding your way into the train of thought. Me also being new to the field of Socialanthropology had an addi...more
Jan 31, 2016Benjamin rated it it was amazing
In the 1960s, Mary Douglas destroyed a lot of crap assumptions about 'primitive' people with this little book. Rules about 'clean' and 'dirty' aren't just medical or just hygienic. People from 'primitive' cultures are just as clever and smart as we are; they don't expect it to rain after the rain dance any more than Christians expect peace-on-earth after Christmas prayers. She shows how these and some other doozies were still floating around in anthropology and other early 20th Century 'common s...more
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“Without the letters of condolence, telegrams of congratulations, and occasional postcards, the friendship of a separated friend is not a social reality. It has no existence without the rites of friendship. Social rituals create a reality which would be nothing without them. It is not too much to say that ritual is more to society than words are to thought. For it is very possible to know something and then find words for it. But it is impossible to have social relations without symbolic acts.” — 10 likes
“Kyse on tietenkin teistisestä maailmankatsomuksesta. Vain tiettyihin kysymyksiin vastataan viittaamalla henkiolentoihin, samaan tapaan kuin noituuden kohdalla. Vuodenaikojen tavanomainen vaihtelu, pilvien ja sateen sekä sateiden ja sadon tai kuivuuden ja tautien jne. välinen suhde toki huomataan. Ne otetaan itsestäänselvyyksinä, taustana, jota vasten henkilökohtaisemmat ja painavammat ongelmat voidaan ratkaista. Keskeiset kysymykset missä tahansa teistisessä maailmankatsomuksessa ovat samoja kuin zande-heimolla: miksi juuri tämän viljelijän sato tuhoutui eikä hänen naapurinsa? Miksi puhvelin sarvi lävisti juuri tämän miehen eikä jotakuta toista metsästysporukasta? Miksi juuri tämän miehen lapsi tai karja kuoli? Miksi minä? Miksi tänään? Mitä sille voidaan tehdä? Nämä selitystä vaativat kysymykset liittyvät yksilön huoleen itsestään ja yhteisöstään. Tiedämme nyt, minkä Durkheim tiesi, ja mitä Frazer, tylor ja Marett puolestaan eivät tienneet. Näitä kysymyksiä ei muotoilla ensisijaisesti tyydyttämään ihmisen uteliaisuutta vuodenaikojen ja muun luonnollisen ympäristön suhteen. Ne muotoillaan vallitsevan sosiaalisen huolen tähden, ratkaisemaan sitä ongelmaa, kuinka järjestyä yhdessä yhteiskunnaksi. Totta on, että näihin kysymyksiin voidaan vastata vain siihen nähden, mikä on ihmisen paikka luonnossa. Mutta kuten sanottua, metafysiikka syntyy välittömän käytännön huolen sivutuotteena.” — 0 likes
More quotes…| Author | Mary Douglas |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Social anthropology |
| Publisher | Routledge and Keegan Paul |
Publication date | 1966 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 196 pp. |
| ISBN | 0-7100-1299-3 |
| OCLC | 50333732 |
| Preceded by | The Lele of the Kasai |
| Followed by | Natural Symbols |
| Part of a series on |
| Anthropology of religion |
|---|
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| Social and cultural anthropology |
Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo is a 1966 book by the anthropologist and cultural theorist Mary Douglas. It is her best known work. In 1991 the Times Literary Supplement listed it as one of the hundred most influential non-fiction books published since 1945. It has gone through numerous reprints and re-editions (1969, 1970, 1978, 1984, 1991, 2002). In 2003 a further edition was brought out as volume 2 in Mary Douglas: Collected Works (ISBN0415291054).
- 5References
Summary[edit]
The line of inquiry in Purity and Danger traces the words and meaning of dirt in different contexts. What is regarded as dirt in a given society is any matter considered out of place. (Douglas took this lead from William James.) She attempted to clarify the differences between the sacred, the clean and the unclean in different societies and times. But this does not entail judging religions as pessimistic or optimistic in their understanding of purity or dirt—e.g., as dirt-affirming or otherwise. Through a complex and sophisticated reading of ritual, religion, and lifestyle, Douglas challenged Western ideas of pollution, making clear how the context and social history is essential.
As an example of this approach, Douglas first proposed that the kosher laws were not, as many believed, either primitive health regulations or randomly chosen as tests of the Israelites' commitment to God. Instead, Douglas argued that the laws were about symbolic boundary-maintenance. Prohibited foods were those that did not seem to fall neatly into any category. For example, pigs' place in the natural order was ambiguous because they shared the cloven hoof of the ungulates, but did not chew cud.
Later in a 2002 preface to Purity and Danger, Douglas went on to retract this explanation of the kosher rules, saying that it had been 'a major mistake.' Instead, she proposed that 'the dietary laws intricately model the body and the altar upon one another.' For instance, among land animals, Israelites were only allowed to eat animals that were also allowed to be sacrificed: animals that depend on herdsmen. Douglas concluded from this that animals that are abominable to eat are not in fact impure, but rather that 'it is abominable to harm them.' She claimed that later interpreters (even later Biblical authors) had misunderstood this.
Influence[edit]
The historian of Late Antiquity, Peter Brown states that Purity and Danger was a major influence behind his important 1971 article 'The Rise and Function of the Holy Man in Late Antiquity', which is considered one of the bases for all subsequent study of Early Christian asceticism.[1]
In Powers of Horror (1980), where Julia Kristeva elaborates her theory of abjection, she recognizes the influence of Douglas’s “fundamental work,” while criticizing certain aspects of her approach.[2]
Reviews[edit]
- Edwin Ardener in Man, New Series, 2:1 (1967), p. 139.
- Melford Spiro in American Anthropologist, New Series, 70:2 (1968), pp. 391–393.
- William McCormack in Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 6:2 (1967), pp. 313–314.
- Joseph B. Tamney in Sociological Analysis, 28:1 (1967), pp. 56–57.
- Phillip R. Kunz in Review of Religious Research, 10:2 (1969), pp. 114–115.
- Albert James Bergesen, review essay in American Journal of Sociology, 83:4 (1978), pp. 1012–1021 (also dealing with Douglas's later book, Natural Symbols).
- P. H. Gulliver in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 30:2, Fiftieth Anniversary Volume (1967), pp. 462–464.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^Brown, Peter (1998). 'The Rise and Function of the Holy Man in Late Antiquity, 1971-1997'. Journal of Early Christian Studies. 6: 359–63.
- ^Kristeva, Julia, Trans. Leon Roudiez (1982). Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection. Columbia University Press: 65-67.
Purity And Danger Pdf
Bibliography[edit]
Purity And Danger Summary
- Richard Fardon, Mary Douglas: An Intellectual Biography (London: Routledge, 1999), ch. 4.
External links[edit]
Mary Douglas Purity And Danger Pdf
- 2002 edition on google books
- Leonore Davidoff, 'Speaking Volumes: Purity and Danger', Times Higher Education Supplement 19 May 1995. Accessed 22 March 2010.
Mary Douglas Purity And Danger Pdf
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