Chapter 3 Vocab

Question 1

Displacement

Answer 1

The ability to use symbols to refer to things and activities that are remote from the user.

Question 2

Symbol

Answer 2

A shared understanding about the meaning of certain words, attributes, or objects; something that stands for something else.

Question 3

Openness

Answer 3

A feature of symbols; the ability to create new symbols.

Question 4

Swastika

Answer 4

A symbol formed by two lines crossing at right angles with their ends bent at right angles in a clockwise or counterclockwise position.

Question 5

Pentagram

Answer 5

A five-sided figure.

Question 6

Pentacle

Answer 6

A five-pointed star.

Question 7

Cross

Answer 7

An upright pole with a transverse piece in the middle or near the top. Used for executions by the Romans; now a symbol for the Christian religion.

Question 8

Acrostic

Answer 8

A word that is derived from the first letter of a series of words.

Question 9

Psychoduct

Answer 9

A pipe or tube that connects a tomb to a temple through which the spirit of the deceased may travel into the temple.

Question 10

Anthropocentrism

Answer 10

Belief that humans are set off from the animal world.

Question 11

Infibulation

Answer 11

Form of female genital cutting.

Question 12

Cicatrization

Answer 12

Scar formation at the site of a cut or wound.

Question 13

Periodic ritual

Answer 13

: A ritual that is performed on a regular basis as part of a religious calendar.

Question 14

Totemism

Answer 14

A religious system that assigns different plant and animal species to specific social groups and postulates a relationship between the group and the species formed during the period of creation.

Question 15

Totem

Answer 15

A symbol or emblem that stands for a social unit

Question 16

Increase rite

Answer 16

A type of ritual whose purpose is to aid the survival and reproduction of a totemic plant or animal

Question 17

Syncretism

Answer 17

A fusing of traits from two cultures to form something new and yet permitting the retention of the old by subsuming the old into a new form.

Question 18

Idiophone

Answer 18

A musical instrument that is struck, shaken, or rubbed such as a rattle and bell.

Question 19

Membranophone

Answer 19

A musical instrument that incorporates a taut membrane or skin such as a drum.

Question 20

Cordophone

Answer 20

A musical instrument with taut strings that can be plucked or strummed, hit, or sawed such as a harp and violin.

Question 21

Aerophone

Answer 21

A musical instrument in which air is blown across or into some type of passageway, such as a pipe; includes whistles and flutes.

Question 22

Primitive

Answer 22

the most rudimentary form of any institution to be found

Question 23

Solidarity

Answer 23

the way society is held together

Question 24

Mechanical solidarity

Answer 24

a society in which all divisions are alike; e.g. Clans

Question 25

Organic Solidarity

Answer 25

based on a division of labors

Question 26

Social Cohesion

Answer 26

He was interested in the profound change that has occurred between “traditional” (rural) and “modern” (urban) societies in Western Europe

Question 27

Ritual

Answer 27

a patterned, recurring sequence of behaviors

Question 28

social variable

Answer 28

“variable” = variable concept. Concept: definition of a phenomenon we describe. If the variable relates to our shared life it is a SOCIAL VARIABLE.

Question 29

Emile Durkheim

Answer 29

• Durkheim argues that ritual reflects the order of society – it expresses how the social group understands itself as its best and its best ability to survive , not to disintegrate that would threaten security or nutrition
• Believes that the god who is the object of worship is, in fact, the society itself
• Religion originates in social solidarity
• It strengthens and continues the solidarity

Question 30

Myth

Answer 30

• The stories of the religious group
• A story interpreting, presenting, the transcendent worldview
• A sacred story that provides the basis for religious beliefs and practices

Question 31

Symbol

Answer 31

• Vocabulary through which the myths are conveyed

Question 32

Ritual

Answer 32

• The culmination of story + symbols into a drama, a ‘play’ s

Question 33

Folktales

Answer 33

• A traditional story that is part of the oral tradition of a society
o Fictional
o Supernatural elements
o Moral

Question 34

Legend

Answer 34

• A traditional story about past events that is considered to be true

Question 35

Origin myths

Answer 35

o Considered to be the most sacred

o Often a source of identity (individual and group)

Question 36

Flood Myths

Answer 36

o Stories about large floods are widespread throughout the general
o Many societies established round ports, rivers, other natural water sources

Question 37

Apocalypse myths

Answer 37

o Ultimate devastation, ending of the world

Question 38

Trickster myths

Answer 38

o Explain why things are the way they are o The trickster is…
• A god who gave humans important things or skills, often by accident or through trickery

Question 39

Hero Myth

Answer 39

o Joseph Campbell’s work on the mono-myth
• Right of passage
o Monomyth – a theme common to many myths that tells of the adventure of a culture hero
o Typically the hero goes through three stages:
• Separation
• Training
• Return