1st Edition

An Analysis of Mary Douglas's Purity and Danger An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo

By Pádraig Belton Copyright 2017
    127 Pages
    by Macat Library

    128 Pages
    by Macat Library

    Mary Douglas is an outstanding example of an evaluative thinker at work. In Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo, she delves in great detail into existing arguments that portray traditional societies as “evolving” from “savage” beliefs in magic, to religion, to modern science, then explains why she believes those arguments are wrong. She also adeptly chaperones readers through a vast amount of data, from firsthand research in the Congo to close readings of the Old Testament, and analyzes it in depth to provide evidence that traditional and Western religions have more in common than the first comparative religion scholars and early anthropologists thought.

    First evaluating her scholarly predecessors by marshalling their arguments, Douglas identifies their main weakness: that they dismiss traditional societies and their religions by identifying their practices as “magic,” thereby creating a chasm between savages who believe in magic and sophisticates who practice religion.

    Ways in to the Text 

    Who Was Mary Douglas? 

    What Does Purity and Danger Say? 

    Why Does Purity and Danger Matter? 

    Section 1: Influences 

    Module 1: The Author and the historical Context 

    Module 2: Academic Context 

    Module 3: The Problem 

    Module 4: The Author's Contribution 

    Section 2: Ideas 

    Module 5: Main Ideas 

    Module 6: Secondary Ideas 

    Module 7: Achievement 

    Module 8: Place in the Author's Work 

    Section 3: Impact 

    Module 9: The First Responses  

    Module 10: The Evolving Debate 

    Module 11: Impact and Influence Today  

    Module 12: Where Next? 

    Glossary of Terms  

    People Mentioned in the Text  

    Works Cited

    Biography

    Pádraig Belton undertook his doctoral research in politics and international relations at the University of Oxford. A prolific financia, business and political journalist, his work has appeared in publications including the Irish Times, the Guardian, Telegraph, Independent, the Irish Independent, the Atlantic, the New Statesman, Prospect, the Times Literary Supplement, and Foreign Policy.