000			02646nam a22002297a 4500
005			20221127195255.0
008			221127b |||||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020			_a9780199646364
028			_a: International Book Distributors _b: Flat No.- 17, Prakash Apartment, Ansari Road, New Delhi- 110002 _c: 118481 _d: 14/11/2022
082			_a302.3 WHI
100			_aWhitehouse, Harvey.
245			_a The ritual animal _b: imitation and cohesion in the evolution of social complexity. _c/ Harvey Whitehouse.
260			_a, United Kingdom _b: Oxford University Press _c,2021.
300			_ax,239p. _c:25cm.
365			_b2725
520			_aFrom 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
650			_aWhitehouse, Harvey
650			_aSocial groups
650			_aSocial psychology
700			_aHarvey Whitehouse.
942			_cBOOK
999			_c59772 _d59772