The previous chapter explored the children's views on causal agents such as germs and how they acted; this presented elements of the ‘personalistic’ medical system found in this population. These causal agents were regarded as representing the children's deductions of ‘facts’ from the various ways in which information was given to them. The systems in which the information was given were described in general terms in chapter 4, but without specific details of how illness rationales maintain boundaries between the systems and are used to facilitate particular social strategies. Here the threats to health inherent in the environment are discusssed.

How people respect the community's conventions about dirt appears to be particularly important for establishing the moral order around health in that social system. It is necessary to look more closely at what I mean by moral order, because I am here adopting an understanding of morality which differs from the stage models usually used. The concept of moral order comes from Harre (1983). (The interested reader who wishes a fuller presentation of why the stage model of development of morality is no longer adequate should refer to Harré's exposition.)