ANTH-2108 Lecture Notes - Public Culture, James George Frazer, Collective Unconscious
9 Dec 2013
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Document Summary
Revisiting theories on why religion is universal to help us think about science as an explanatory model. Science gives us something to become a community around. Gives us the knowledge of the way things are; i. e solar eclipse the sun is coming back and we know this; explanations that things are not out of control. Religion is involved in both the maintenance of culture and social structure, as well as periods of radical change: radical change is society is often a sign of the onset of a new religious belief. New religions often emerge during periods of stress either economic, political, environmental, or social crises. Colonialism, oppression, technology lag are examples of this: culture of maintaining a balance (not broke/don t fix); hard to change as it is socially constructed; based off of tradition (gods will be angry if we change this tradition)
