Research on ritual with respect to consumption and holidays has been a growing topic with the support of numerous studies in recent years. However, a clear definition of what ritual entail is of debate between scholars of the social sciences, particularly anthropology, psychology, and sociology. Creating a clear set of criteria to describe what behavior is considered to be of an aspect of ritual or not has been an impossible feat for researchers, instead many definitions have risen from disagreement between the social sciences.
Many of these definitions of ritual apply to a particular theory within the constraints of the field of academia which the definition is sourcing from (such as anthropology) and when examined within one field definitions are often countering each other. For instance, within the field of anthropology, Rappaport (1976) maintained that ritual was defined involving behavior having a direct relationship with supernatural deities and motivated by belief systems, therefore subjecting to a religious model of ritual. This definition is appropriate for Rappaport’s research of religious rituals of the Tsembaga in New Guinea, but cannot be generally applied to Durkheim’s outlook of ritual deriving from social interaction between people and its relationship to collectivist behavior (textbook, p. 88). Rituals also tend to share common features with other well-defined socially constructed concepts, such as habits. Some rituals do indeed seem to have a reoccurring habitual pattern, such as celebrating birthdays on an annual basis. However, not all rituals represent habits and not all habits can be considered ritual. For example, an individual’s graduation from school is considered a ritual but it only occurs a limited amo...
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... completing their mission. This description of Black Friday behavior proposed by researchers Thomas and Peters (2011) explicitly describes a script for the Black Friday consumption ritual and establishes roles for buyers to act upon.
Concluding Statements
From an anthropological point of view, Black Friday can be considered an annual American consumption ritual for millions to partake in. The evidence for relating Black Friday as a day of ritual is clear when taking into account the magnitude of people who participate in this holiday and how closely the day can meets Rook’s (1985) criteria of ritual. There is an established relationship between the consumer and the retailer and an annual ritual script to bond this relationship. The script manages the expectation for retailers to offer advantages to consumers and for these buyers to spend a large amount of money.
Rituals help many people to feel more in control of their lives. Both American baseball players and Malinowski’s Trobriand Islanders practice some sort or ritual. In each case, the ritual is used to bring comfort in the face of
In Barre Toelken’s essay “Seeing with a Native Eye: How Many Sheep Will It Hold?”, the ways in which one culture perceives another and the criteria used to make judgements are explored. Toelken states “I think I can say something about how differently we see things, envision things, look at things, how dissimilarly different cultures try to process the world of reality” (10-11). In essence, Toelken is alluding to how different cultures will interpret their experiences and rituals according to their own set of beliefs and practices. This complicates situations in which the experiences or rituals are not comparable across cultural lines; someone will always be missing an aspect or a significant purpose if they do not try to “see it as much as possible with the ‘native eye’” (12). In other words, one must immerse themselves in the culture they are analyzing, while not comparing it to their own cultural experiences. One must consider all the cultural implications of that specific culture when wondering why things are done a certain way. Toelken provides
A ritual "is a sequence of events involving motions, words, and objects, performed according to set sequence”. In addition, a religious ritual is a solemn ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order (Michael, 2012). The ritual I have chosen to investigate is Jewish Marriage. This ritual will be analysed using Lovat’s five-step approach.
Rituals are held as a very important part of any society, including ours. They go back to ancient times or can be as simple as maintaining one’s hygiene. Non-western societies have rituals that may seem very foreign to us, but they have been engrained in their communities and are essential to their social structure. This interpretation will focus on the Great Pilgrimage, a ritual performed by Quechuan communities. We will be looking specifically at a community in the area of Sonqo.
Thanksgiving Day is a day of family, food, and giving thanks for the blessings in life and yet some people believe Thanksgiving to be a prep day for Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year. The focus of Thanksgiving shifted from family bonding to incessant shopping. This trend of taking away from the hours of Thanksgiving in order to shop is enraging. It steals away from family time for the shoppers and the employees. Employers threaten workers that if they do not work on that certain holiday, they will be fired. Black Friday should be kept to Friday instead of moving in on my family time. The whole culture of Black Friday has become repugnant and unnecessary.
The article equips the reader with the tools needed to better understand other cultures, in terms of their own beliefs and rituals. Miner’s original approach does create a certain level of confusion that forces the reader to critically evaluate his purpose. “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” by Horace Miner ultimately brings people together, by illuminating the eccentricities present in all
Imagine having to work on thanksgiving. Not only do those people miss out on Black Friday, but also miss out on time with your family. They also get to go to work more than likely sleep deprived, deal with unpleasant customers, and constant lines. Curtis West worked as a Macy’s employee. In his 24 years of work for them he had to work a total of 19 Black Fridays. He said it wasn’t bad when Black Friday started off, because it usually meant going in at 5 am on Friday. Now for sto...
Starting the day right after Thanksgiving, everybody’s mind is set on one thing: Shopping. People young and old wake up early in the morning to start their holiday shopping. Everyone is looking for the perfect gift for their family and friends. But nobody cares to think of what the employees at their favorite stores think and feel. Shoppers just come inside and turn the store upside down.
It is seen in everything from the hoarding of material objects to the destruction of friendships, both of which are popular themes when regarding the topic of Black Friday shopping. Black Friday has become Black Thursday, a trend which has only shown up within the last decade. The great American holiday that is Thanksgiving is celebrated because of our gratefulness toward all that we have, a holiday that is meant to be spent gathered around a table of our loved ones. However, the retail holiday that consumes the day afterward has begun to overflow into our gatherings, and it is due to the greed of the American people. Were it not for the market’s demand for earlier sales, stores would not open their sales on Thursday nights. Everyone would simply wait until early the next morning to start off on their shopping extravaganzas, and the sales themselves would likely be far less violent as
Holidays have always been known to affect our consumer culture for many years, but how it all began eludes many people and very few studies have been completed on it. Even though some say that the subject is too broad to precisely identify how holidays, especially Christmas, directly affect our market, I have found that people’s values, expectations and rituals related to holidays can cause an excessive amount of spending among our society. Most people are unaware that over the centuries holidays have become such a profitable time of year for industries that they now starting to promote gift ideas on an average of a month and a half ahead of actual holiday dates to meet consumer demands.
Studying this theme affected my life, my relationships, my feelings, my actions and my values. Learning about rituals brought me the realization that my own family actually has many rituals and traditions, such as Sunday visits at my grandma’s house. Recognizing my own rituals and traditions has affected my relationships with my family, by showing more appreciation for my father and grandmother who passed down the rituals and traditions. This theme has also affected my feelings, since I now feel closer and more connected to my heritage. This has affected my actions and values because I try to carry out these rituals and traditions more than I regularly
Zimmermann, K. A. (2013, April 22). American Culture: Traditions and Customs of the United States | LiveScience. Retrieved February 9, 2014, from
Rites form and essential part of social life. Rites invoke ancestors and the dead. The whole person, body, and soul are totally involved in worship. There are many rites of purification of individuals and communities. Religious sacredness is preserved in ritual, in dress and the arrangements of the places of worship. The sick are healed in rites, which involve their families and the community. Some of the traditional blessings are rich and very meaningful. In worship and sacrifice there is co-responsibility each person contributes his share in a spirit of participation. Symbols bridge the spheres of the sacred and secular and so make possible a balanced and unified view of reality.
Shopping and philosophy: Postmodernism is the new black. (2006, December 19). The Economist, Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/node/8401159.
Verrill, Alpheus. Strange Customs, Manners, and Beliefs: A Remarkable Account of Curious Beliefs and Odd Superstitions, Strange Ways of Living, and Amazing Customs and Manners of Many Peoples and Tribes around the Earth. New York: Books for Libraries, 1946. Print.