Chapter 3 Vocab Flashcards
Displacement
The ability to use symbols to refer to things and activities that are remote from the user.
Symbol
A shared understanding about the meaning of certain words, attributes, or objects; something that stands for something else.
Openness
A feature of symbols; the ability to create new symbols.
Swastika
A symbol formed by two lines crossing at right angles with their ends bent at right angles in a clockwise or counterclockwise position.
Pentagram
A five-sided figure.
Pentacle
A five-pointed star.
Cross
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.
Acrostic
A word that is derived from the first letter of a series of words.
Psychoduct
A pipe or tube that connects a tomb to a temple through which the spirit of the deceased may travel into the temple.
Anthropocentrism
Belief that humans are set off from the animal world.
Infibulation
Form of female genital cutting.
Cicatrization
Scar formation at the site of a cut or wound.
Periodic ritual
: A ritual that is performed on a regular basis as part of a religious calendar.
Totemism
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.
Totem
A symbol or emblem that stands for a social unit
Increase rite
A type of ritual whose purpose is to aid the survival and reproduction of a totemic plant or animal
Syncretism
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.
Idiophone
A musical instrument that is struck, shaken, or rubbed such as a rattle and bell.
Membranophone
A musical instrument that incorporates a taut membrane or skin such as a drum.
Cordophone
A musical instrument with taut strings that can be plucked or strummed, hit, or sawed such as a harp and violin.
Aerophone
A musical instrument in which air is blown across or into some type of passageway, such as a pipe; includes whistles and flutes.
Primitive
the most rudimentary form of any institution to be found
Solidarity
the way society is held together
Mechanical solidarity
a society in which all divisions are alike; e.g. Clans
Organic Solidarity
based on a division of labors
Social Cohesion
He was interested in the profound change that has occurred between “traditional” (rural) and “modern” (urban) societies in Western Europe
Ritual
a patterned, recurring sequence of behaviors
social variable
“variable” = variable concept. Concept: definition of a phenomenon we describe. If the variable relates to our shared life it is a SOCIAL VARIABLE.
Emile Durkheim
- 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
Myth
- 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
Symbol
• Vocabulary through which the myths are conveyed
Ritual
• The culmination of story + symbols into a drama, a ‘play’ s
Folktales
• A traditional story that is part of the oral tradition of a society
o Fictional
o Supernatural elements
o Moral
Legend
• A traditional story about past events that is considered to be true
Origin myths
o Considered to be the most sacred
o Often a source of identity (individual and group)
Flood Myths
o Stories about large floods are widespread throughout the general
o Many societies established round ports, rivers, other natural water sources
Apocalypse myths
o Ultimate devastation, ending of the world
Trickster myths
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
Hero Myth
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
