Mary Douglas Quotes

A collection of quotes by Mary Douglas.

Mary Douglas was a British social anthropologist and a prominent figure in the field of cultural anthropology. She was born on March 25, 1921, in San Remo, Italy, and passed away on May 16, 2007, in London, England.

Douglas attended Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, where she obtained a degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. However, her interests quickly shifted towards anthropology, and she conducted groundbreaking research throughout her career. Her contributions to the field are highly regarded, particularly her studies on symbolism, meaning, and cultural systems.

One of Douglas's most influential works is the book "Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo," published in 1966. In this book, she explored the concept of purity, drawing connections between ritual practices, social order, and cultural beliefs. Douglas argued that notions of dirt and impurity are embedded in social structures and have consequences for individuals and groups.

Throughout her career, Douglas also researched various social groups and their belief systems, examining their organization, rituals, and classifications. Her work made significant contributions to the study of symbolism and how culture shapes human behavior.

Mary Douglas was a highly respected academic, serving as a professor at various institutions, including University College London. She received numerous honorary degrees and accolades for her work and remains a seminal figure in the field of anthropology, shaping the way scholars understand culture and society.

If people want to compete for leadership of a religious grou

If people want to compete for leadership of a religious group, they can compete in piety. A chilling thought. Or funny.

Funny

Enclave life becomes very tense, Even when they do elect a l

Enclave life becomes very tense, Even when they do elect a leader, the factions remain, with the threat of splitting off.

Life

Inequality can have a bad downside, but equality, for its pa

Inequality can have a bad downside, but equality, for its part, sure does get in the way of coordination.

Equality

Religion can make it worse. Are you supposing that if people

Religion can make it worse. Are you supposing that if people were encouraged to believe in a transcendent reality, and to be encouraged by grand rituals and music and preaching, to love their neighbors, then they would put jealousy and frustration aside?

Jealousy

Real equality is immensely difficult to achieve, it needs co

Real equality is immensely difficult to achieve, it needs continual revision and monitoring of distributions. And it does not provide buffers between members, so they are continually colliding or frustrating each other.

Equality

Since 1970, relationships can be more volatile, jobs more ep

Since 1970, relationships can be more volatile, jobs more ephemeral, geographical mobility more intensified, stability of marriage weaker.

Marriage

Just in our lifetime our society has become looser and more

Just in our lifetime our society has become looser and more private, it becomes extremely difficult to hold to any permanent commitment whatever, least of all to organized religion.

Religion

It is only partly true that religion does more harm than goo

It is only partly true that religion does more harm than good in society. The community makes God into the image it wants, vengeful, or milky sweet, or scrupulously just, and so on.

Religion

It is very reasonable to worry about the harm done by organi

It is very reasonable to worry about the harm done by organized religion, and to prefer looser and more private arrangements.

Religion

Mormons... are so strong, they can handle wealth, they are c

Mormons... are so strong, they can handle wealth, they are confident. I think it is because they are not bogged down by rules for equality, but have a firmly defined system of relative status and responsible command.

Equality

I have increasingly, over the years, felt that religion toda

I have increasingly, over the years, felt that religion today does our civilization more harm than good.

Religion

I am sure it must be true that people opt out of the mainstr

I am sure it must be true that people opt out of the mainstream society because they feel that there are going to be no rewards for them, if they stay.

Society

If you want to change the culture, you will have to start by

If you want to change the culture, you will have to start by changing the organization.

Change

It seems true that the growth of science and secularism made

It seems true that the growth of science and secularism made organized Christianity feel under threat.

Science

The incipient institution needs some stabilizing principle t

The incipient institution needs some stabilizing principle to stop its premature demise. That stabilizing principle is the naturalization of social classifications. There needs to be an analogy by which the formal structure of a crucial set of social relations is found in the physical world, or in the supernatural world, or in eternity, anywhere, so long as it is not seen as a socially contrived arrangement. When the analogy is applied back and forth from one set of social relations to another, and from these back to nature, its recurring formal structure becomes easily recognized and endowed with self-validating truth... For discourse to be possible at all, the basic categories have to be agreed on. Nothing else but institutions can define sameness. Similarity is an institution.

Society

I am convinced that living in an enclave shapes the personal

I am convinced that living in an enclave shapes the personality, and living alone shapes the personality too.

Alone