Why do great and little traditions coexist in the world’s doctrinal religions?

Stanford, Mark; Whitehouse, Harvey

doi:10.1080/2153599x.2021.1947357

Cited by 12 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 58 publications

(60 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It is likely that his beliefs were shaped by the folk religion prevalent among the local population. In anthropology, there is a differentiation between little and great tradition (Stanford & Whitehouse, 2021). The concept of the little tradition encompasses the indigenous practices and customs of a particular locality, whereas the great tradition encompasses the orthodox religious aspects.…”

Section: The Manifestation Of Mystical Phenomena In the Literary Work...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mystical Elements in the Novels of Marah Rusli

Stark,

Baharuddin,

Hassan

et al. 2024

MJSSH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Marah Rusli is widely recognized as a prominent figure in Indonesian literature, particularly in the field of writing novels. He is regarded as the 'father' of contemporary Indonesian fiction. His well-known writings, including Sitti Nurbaya, were the subject of numerous analyses. The mystical components, another aspect of Marah Rusli's writing that appears to be recurrent, will be examined by the researchers in this article. The findings indicate that Marah Rusli, despite being aligned with modernist ideals and expressing criticism towards traditional Minangkabau rituals, exhibited a profound inclination towards mystical concepts that can be characterized as rooted in folk beliefs. His autobiographical novel Memang Jodoh, in particular, includes numerous mystical influences and illustrates supernatural events. For the reader, this fact is fascinating as it provides new, important background information about the work of Marah Rusli.

show abstract

Section: The Manifestation Of Mystical Phenomena In the Literary Work...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mystical Elements in the Novels of Marah Rusli

Stark,

Baharuddin,

Hassan

et al. 2024

MJSSH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In some doctrinal religions, “little traditions” based around quasi-instrumental rituals become widespread (Redfield, 1955). There is some evidence that although doctrinal traditions may cultivate strong forms of affiliation with the religious community, commensurate with their focus on the ritual stance, little traditions serve more closely the interests of individuals and kin groups seeking to ward off misfortune (Stanford and Whitehouse, 2021). Quasi-instrumental practices associated with little traditions may also spread readily across the boundaries of the doctrinal traditions in which they originate.…”

Section: Bifocal Stance Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Tradition and invention: The bifocal stance theory of cultural evolution

Jagiello¹,

Heyes²,

Whitehouse³

2022

Behav Brain Sci

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Cultural evolution depends on both innovation (the creation of new cultural variants by accident or design) and high-fidelity transmission (which preserves our accumulated knowledge and allows the storage of normative conventions). What is required is an overarching theory encompassing both dimensions, specifying the psychological motivations and mechanisms involved. The Bifocal Stance Theory (BST) of cultural evolution proposes that the co-existence of innovative change and stable tradition results from our ability to adopt different motivational stances flexibly during social learning and transmission. We argue that the ways in which instrumental and ritual stances are adopted in cultural transmission, influence the nature and degree of copying fidelity and thus also patterns of cultural spread and stability at a population level over time. BST creates a unifying framework for interpreting the findings of otherwise seemingly disparate areas of inquiry, including social learning, cumulative culture, overimitation and ritual performance. We discuss the implications of BST for competing by-product accounts which assume that faithful copying is merely a side-effect of instrumental learning and action parsing. We also set out a novel ‘cultural action framework’ bringing to light aspects of social learning that have been relatively neglected by behavioural ecologists and evolutionary psychologists and establishing a roadmap for future research on this topic. The BST framework sheds new light on the cognitive underpinnings of cumulative cultural change, selection, and spread within an encompassing evolutionary framework.

show abstract

“…In some doctrinal religions, "little traditions" based around quasi-instrumental rituals become widespread (Redfield, 1955). There is some evidence that although doctrinal traditions may cultivate strong forms of affiliation with the religious community, commensurate with their focus on the ritual stance, little traditions serve more closely the interests of individuals and kin groups seeking to ward off misfortune (Stanford and Whitehouse, 2021). Quasi-instrumental practices associated with little traditions may also spread readily across the boundaries of the doctrinal traditions in which they originate.…”

Section: Cultural Selection and Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bifocal stance theory, the transmission metaphor, and institutional reality

Packer¹,

Cole²

2022

Behav Brain Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Biologists have replaced the metaphor of “genetic transmission” with a detailed account of the molecular mechanisms underlying the phenomenon which Darwin referred to as “like produces like.” Cultural evolution theorists, in contrast, continue to appeal to “imitation” or “copying.” The notion of ritual and instrumental stances does not resolve this issue, and ignores the institutions in which people live.

show abstract

Why do great and little traditions coexist in the world’s doctrinal religions?

Cited by 12 publications

References 58 publications

Mystical Elements in the Novels of Marah Rusli

Mystical Elements in the Novels of Marah Rusli

Tradition and invention: The bifocal stance theory of cultural evolution

Bifocal stance theory, the transmission metaphor, and institutional reality

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About