ABSTRACT
In the last chapter, we examined the main social functions of ideology. We saw that systematised values which structure social action have an instrumental explanatory and theoretical significance, as well as expressing emotional feelings (particularly through ritual) and satisfying aesthetic needs. Ideology, then, like religion, is what it does in society (Evans-Pritchard 1965). Ritual action, in turn, may assume a religious or secular form in creating social consensus, and/or managing social conflict, to achieve societal integration. Secular ideology and ritual, however, unlike their religious counterparts, generally do not address existential issues that give meaning to death, as well as to life. They create a longer permanence than the individual life-span, but secular rites deal in social continuity rather than in human immortality.
