Mary Douglas
Mary Douglas
Dame Mary Douglas, DBE, FBAwas a British anthropologist, known for her writings on human culture and symbolism, whose area of speciality was social anthropology. Douglas was considered a follower of Émile Durkheim and a proponent of structuralist analysis, with a strong interest in comparative religion...
commitment our-society lifetime
Just in our lifetime our society has become looser and more private, it becomes extremely difficult to hold to any permanent commitment whatever, least of all to organized religion.
british-scientist injustice madly nation provoke seen vicious
What did our nation ever do to provoke these madly vicious enemies? What is seen as injustice in one place is seen as just requital in the other.
unique order hygiene
If we can abstract pathogenicity and hygiene from our notion of dirt, we are left with the old definition of dirt as matter out of place. This is a very suggestive approach. It implies two conditions: a set of ordered relations and a contrevention of that order. Dirt then, is never a unique, isolated event. Where there is dirt there is a system. Dirt is the by-product of a systematic ordering and classification of matter, in so far as ordering involves rejecting inappropriate elements.
rome church goes-on
The history of the Church of Rome is a constant leakage of members into such breakaway cults, which go on splitting.
civilization years today
I have increasingly, over the years, felt that religion today does our civilization more harm than good.
communication years progress
Every year the progress of advanced capitalist society makes our population consist of more and more isolates. This is because of the infrastructure of the economy, especially electronic communications.
hierarchy present-day
Hierarchy is is much reviled in the present day.
hierarchy environment wells
Hierarchy works well in a stable environment.
worry done recycling
It is very reasonable to worry about the harm done by organized religion, and to prefer looser and more private arrangements.
religious bazaars body
Inside a religious body you get sects and hierarchies, inside an information network you get bazaars and cathedrals, it is the same, call them what you like. They survive by pointing the finger of blame at each other.
personality shapes living-alone
I am convinced that living in an enclave shapes the personality, and living alone shapes the personality too.
jealousy believe frustration
Religion can make it worse. Are you supposing that if people were encouraged to believe in a transcendent reality, and to be encouraged by grand rituals and music and preaching, to love their neighbors, then they would put jealousy and frustration aside?
mainstream-society people rewards
I am sure it must be true that people opt out of the mainstream society because they feel that there are going to be no rewards for them, if they stay.
sweet community want
It is only partly true that religion does more harm than good in society. The community makes God into the image it wants, vengeful, or milky sweet, or scrupulously just, and so on.