Visuomenės simbolinių sistemų socialinio struktūravimo ir hierarchizacijos išraiškos ; Expressions of social structuring and hierarchization of symbolic systems of society

Abstract

This article aims to present a pub­lic symbolic "Purity- Dirt" system analyzed within structural anthropology and structural functionalism paradigm (Mary Douglas, Victor Turner, Edward Evans-Pritchard, Louis Dumont) as expression of social structuring and hierarchization. Louis Dumont studies on Indian society paved the way for the development of culturological approach to the study of Indian society. The culturological approach identifies itself close to the indological approach. Mary Douglas in the lin e of enquiry in Purity and Danger traces the words and mean ing of dirt in different contexts. What is regarded as dirt in a given society is any matter considered out of place. She attempts to clarify the differences between the sacred, the clean and the unclean in different societies and times. Turner gained notoriety by exploring Arnold van Gen­nep' threefold structure of rites of passage and expanding theories on the liminal phase. Van Gennep's structure consisted of a prelimin al phase (separation), a limin al phase (transition), and a post-liminal phase (reincorporation). Tur er noted that in liminality, there is a tra­sitio al state between two phases: they do not belong to the society that they previously were a part of and they are not yet rei­corporated i­to that society. Liminality is a lim o, an ambiguous period characterized by humility, seclusion, tests, sexual ambiguity, and communitas. Communitas is de­ned as an unstructured community where all mem ers are equal.