Ritual and Religion as Social Technologies of Cooperation

doi:10.1017/9781108695374.016

11 - Ritual and Religion as Social Technologies of Cooperation

from Section 3 - How Social Coordination and Cooperation are Achieved

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 September 2020

Christopher Kavanagh ,

Jonathan Jong and

Harvey Whitehouse

Edited by

Laurence J. Kirmayer ,

Carol M. Worthman ,

Shinobu Kitayama ,

Robert Lemelson and

Constance A. Cummings

Show author details

Laurence J. Kirmayer: Affiliation:
McGill University, Montréal
Carol M. Worthman: Affiliation:
Emory University, Atlanta
Shinobu Kitayama: Affiliation:
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Robert Lemelson: Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
Constance A. Cummings: Affiliation:
The Foundation for Psychocultural Research

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Summary

In this chapter, we review recent research from a variety of disciplines to outline the role that collective rituals and religious beliefs play in fostering and maintaining cooperation. We consider ritual and religion as interactive but separate social technologies. First, with rituals we discuss their importance to social learning processes, examine their ability to bond groups through synchrony and shared emotion, and address their role as costly, persuasive signals of commitment. Second, we explore "religion" in the form of beliefs about supernatural agents and look at how such beliefs can contribute to – or hinder – cooperation. We evaluate long-standing claims that religion is a harmful social virus and contrasting recent theories that argue belief in "Big Gods" and "supernatural punishment" are crucial to enabling the cooperation necessary for large-scale societies.

Keywords

ritual religion cooperation Durkheim cognitive science of religion cultural evolution religious belief

Type: Chapter
Information: Culture, Mind, and Brain
Emerging Concepts, Models, and Applications
, pp. 325 - 362

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108695374.016 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2020

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11 - Ritual and Religion as Social Technologies of Cooperation

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