ANTA02H3 Lecture : Week 9 Lecture
Document Summary
Religion overview: james frazer, animism, animatism, myth & ritual, emile durkheim, the social organization of religion, religion and society, religion and social change. James frazer (1854 1941) focused on religion as an aspect of discourse of discuss: the golden bough (1890) multi volume work and kept on being published and successive in editions: study of ancient cults, my ths, and rites. It became so popular in 19 th century in intellectual circles: magic -> religion -> science. Idea was primitive societies had magic, intermediate societies advanced to religion, and the highest level of society focused on science. societies that believed in magic were people that were trying to deal with arbitrary forces. religion was something else for frazer, represented an evolutionary event, had to do with advancing the will of god rather than simply trying to manipulate supernatural forces. sciences was more of a rational investigation.
