Chapter 12 Flashcards
Bronislaw Malinowski found that the Trobriand Islanders used magic when sailing, a hazardous activity. He proposed that
because people can’t control matters such as wind, weather, and the fish supply, they turn to magic.
Which of the following is NOT among contemporary rites of passage?
fasting
What is the third phase of a rite of passage?
incorporation
What is communitas?
the social aspect of collective liminality
Émile Durkheim, an early scholar of religion, stressed what he termed religious “effervescence.” Anthropologists too have stressed
that religious worlds are real, vivid, and significant to those who construct and inhabit them.
Protestant values such as asceticism and entrepreneurship as a result of the belief that success on Earth could lead to salvation and a fervent individualism due to the belief that only individuals could be saved, both lead in the right conditions to the rise of capitalism. Who made this argument?
Max Weber in his influential book The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
Which of the following happens in the first phase of a rite of passage?
People withdraw from ordinary society.
One of the most famous definitions of religion was offered by
Anthony Wallace.
The Latin origin of the term religion suggests that religion
binds people together.
Long ago, ________ argued for a distinction between “a religion” and “religion.”
Edward Sapir
“Sacred and forbidden” best describes
Taboo
“Prohibition backed by supernatural sanctions” defines the term
Taboo
According to Malinowski, when people ________, they turned from technology to magic.
were confronted with situations beyond their control
The voodoo doll is an example of
imitative magic.
In ________, a desired effect is produced by replicating it.
imitative magic
A system—often religious—for imagining and understanding the universe is referred to as
cosmology
The three phases in a rite of passage are separation, ________, and incorporation.
liminality
What kind of religion is based on the idea that each human has a double that is active during sleep?
animism
________ is the general term encompassing curers, mediums, spiritualists, astrologers, palm readers, and other independent diviners.
Shaman
Cultural mixes emerging from acculturation, especially those that are religious, are called
syncretisms.
Postcolonial, acculturative religious movements in Melanesia are called
cargo cults.
One of the three concerns with the idea of secular ritual was that
the behavior considered appropriate for religious occasions varies tremendously from culture to culture.
Like ethnicity and language, religion is associated with social divisions within and between societies and nations.
True
There has been an increase in the percentage of religiously unaffiliated Americans between 2009 and 2019.
True
Rituals such as totemic ceremonies are
rites of intensification.
Max Weber argued that the spread of capitalism was closely linked to the ethics and values of Catholicism.
False
After Christians and Muslims, the unaffiliated constitute the third-largest group worldwide with respect to religious affiliation.
True
________ magic is based on the belief that whatever is done to an object will affect a person who once had contact with it.
Contagious
Contemporary rites of passage include confirmations, baptisms, and bar and bat mitzvahs.
True
Religion and magic don’t just explain things and help people accomplish goals—they also enter the realm of human feelings. In other words,
they serve emotional needs as well as cognitive (i.e., explanatory) ones.
