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Answer: Religion is a cultural universal. According to one well-known definition of religion (proposed by Anthony Wallace), it encompasses beliefs and ritual concerned with supernatural beings, powers, and forces. Another perspective on religion focuses on bodies of people who gather together regularly for worship, and who accept a set of doctrines involving the relationship between the individual and divinity, the supernatural, or whatever is taken to be the ultimate nature of reality. Note, however, that although religion is a cultural universal, it is not a psychological universal. This means that not all individuals claim identification with a religion. Answer: Religion can serve many functions in society. First, it can provide comfort and psychological security by providing explanations for events outside of people's control. Magic may be used to exert control over such forces or events. Ironically, beliefs and rituals may also increase anxiety—for example, when people are required to participate in formal, collective rites. However, the completion of such rituals (e.g., rites of passage) can promote a shared sense of community and fellowship (communitas). Religion may also be used to establish and maintain social control by offering real and imagined rewards and punishments. To ensure proper behavior, many religions prescribe a code of ethics and morality. Answer: Witch hunts can be powerful means of social control by creating a climate of danger and insecurity that affects everyone, not just the people who are likely targets. Witch hunts often take aim at people who can be accused and punished with least chance of retaliation. Witchcraft accusations are often directed at socially marginal or anomalous individuals. For example, among the Betsileo of Madagascar, men who violate the cultural norm of patrilocality by living in their wife's or their mother's village are particularly vulnerable to accusations of witchcraft. Likewise, in tribes and peasant communities, people who stand out economically, especially if they seem to be benefiting at the expense of others, may be persecuted as witches. Thus, witchcraft accusation may serve as a leveling mechanism, a custom or social action that operates to reduce status differences and thus to bring standouts in line with community norms. Answer: Shamans often set themselves off symbolically from other people by assuming a different or ambiguous sex or gender role. For example, among the Chukchee of Siberia, male shamans copied the dress, speech, hair arrangements, and life style of women, even taking other men as husbands and sex partners. Likewise, female shamans could join a fourth gender, copying men and taking wives. |