Purity and danger : an analysis of concept of pollution and taboo / Mary Douglas ; with a new preface by the author.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Douglas, Mary, 1921-2007.

Contributor:

George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

Series:

Routledge classics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Taboo.

Purity, Ritual.

Physical Description:

xxi, 244 pages ; 20 cm.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 2002.

Summary:

Is cleanliness next to godliness? What does such a concept really mean? Why does it recur as a universal theme across all societies? And what are the implications for the unclean? In Purity and Danger, Mary Douglas identifies the concern for purity as a key theme at the heart of every society. In lively and lucid prose she explains its relevance for every reader by revealing its wide-ranging impact on our attitudes to society, values, cosmology and knowledge. This book has been hugely influential in many areas of debate - from religion to social theory. But perhaps its most important role is to offer each reader a new explanation of why people behave in the way they do. With a specially commissioned preface by the author which assesses the continuing significance of the work thirty-five years on, this Routledge Classics edition will ensure that Purity and Danger continues to challenge and question well into the new millennium.

Contents:

1 Ritual Uncleanness 8

2 Secular Defilement 36

3 The Abominations of Leviticus 51

4 Magic and Miracle 72

5 Primitive Worlds 91

6 Powers and Dangers 117

7 External Boundaries 141

8 Internal Lines 160

9 The System at War with Itself 173

10 The System Shattered and Renewed 196.

Notes:

Originally published: London : Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1966.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [221]-226) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

ISBN:

0415289955

OCLC:

50214971