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Mary Douglas Quotes - IQDb - Internet Quotes Database

Quotes from Mary Douglas


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The natural response of the old-timers is to build a strong moral wall against the outside. This is where the world starts to be painted in black and white, saints inside, and sinners outside the wall.


An escalating, violent tit-for-tat may lead to terrorism.


Hierarchy works well in a stable environment.


It's unlikely that the organized religions will get more sectarian... or is it? I am not at all sure.


Some scholars have been arguing that a civilizational clash between organized religions is the next step in human history.


Every year the progress of advanced capitalist society makes our population consist of more and more isolates. This is because of the infrastructure of the economy, especially electronic communications.


I am sure it must be true that people opt out of the mainstream society because they feel that there are going to be no rewards for them, if they stay.


It is only partly true that religion does more harm than good in society. The community makes God into the image it wants, vengeful, or milky sweet, or scrupulously just, and so on.


Just in our lifetime our society has become looser and more private, it becomes extremely difficult to hold to any permanent commitment whatever, least of all to organized religion.


Inside a religious body you get sects and hierarchies, inside an information network you get bazaars and cathedrals, it is the same, call them what you like. They survive by pointing the finger of blame at each other.


The theory of cultural bias... is the idea that a culture is based on a particular form of organization. It can't be transplanted except to another variant of that organization.


It is very reasonable to worry about the harm done by organized religion, and to prefer looser and more private arrangements.


Any great organization can go through sectarian phases.


I have increasingly, over the years, felt that religion today does our civilization more harm than good.


Since 1970, relationships can be more volatile, jobs more ephemeral, geographical mobility more intensified, stability of marriage weaker.


When we are reflecting on terrorism we can grieve for many things we do and have done.


Our technological infrastructure alienates us from each other. No need to form a workplace community, everybody there will be out in a year or two, and so will you, looking for a better place.


Hierarchy is is much reviled in the present day.


Pretensions to moral superiority are devastatingly destructive.


It seems true that the growth of science and secularism made organized Christianity feel under threat.