In chapters 7 to 9 we examined a particular mode of organization of society that I called the shamanic approach. This approach is defined by the extensive use of shamanic mechanisms to maintain and balance the modal states within the social group and to bring about processes of social change where needed.

We should be wary of erecting ‘the shamanic society’ into a well-defined type. Many different human societies operate in this manner. They are not necessarily alike in other respects. While it has been argued that pastoral nomadic societies are particularly likely to employ shamanic mechanisms (Hamayon 1978), our examples of societies using the shamanic approach also include hunter-gatherers such as the Australian Aborigines and agricultural peoples such as the Ndembu. Forms of group organization and of kinship vary widely. So, as we have seen, do the details of the shamanic mechanisms employed.

It is also probably best not to think of the shamanic approach as representing an earlier stage in the evolution of human societies. We are in no position to know whether early human societies had developed shamanic mechanisms comparable to those of modern shamanically oriented societies. There are particular historical sequences (cf. Tibet, discussed later in this chapter) where shamanic mechanisms have decreased in importance over time. However, there are also historical sequences where they have become more significant.