Purity and Danger

Purity and Danger

An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo

Mary Douglas 2002

E-Book: 270 English Pages

Publisher: Routledge

Price: 1000 Toman

Download: Purity and Danger : An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo (Douglas 2002).

In Purity and Danger Mary Douglas identifies the concern for purity as a key theme at the heart of every society. In lively and lucid prose she explains its relevance for every reader by revealing its wide-ranging impact on our attitudes to society, values, cosmology and knowledge. The book has been hugely influential in many areas of debate – from religion to social theory. But perhaps its most important role is to offer each reader a new explanation of why people behave in the way they do. With a specially commissioned introduction by the author which assesses the continuing significance of the work thirty-five years on, this Routledge Classics edition will ensure that Purity and Danger continues to challenge and question well into the new millennium.

Review

“Sparkles with intellectural life.”

— Times Literary Supplement

“This is an absorbing book, full of fascinating insights into some important and universal aspects of human behavior, and Professor Douglas’s erudition is made accessible through the enviable lucidity of her writing.”