ABSTRACT
Functionalism dominated social anthropology for several decades, particularly in Britain and the Commonwealth countries in which Malinowski and Radcliffe-Brown’s ideas were so influential. The work of anthropologists in tribal societies shows this influence very clearly and this chapter outlines some of this work. It considers two themes among the many that the anthropological literature covers, namely taboo and certain types of ritual, specifically communal rituals and rites de passage. The chapter then examines functionalist accounts of these sets of beliefs and behaviour various alternative interpretations. A central element in taboo behaviour for Freud is ambivalence towards the object which is taboo. Mary Douglas considers that contemporary industrial society is as taboo-ridden as any traditional society. Communal rituals are those which involve a kinship group, tribe, village, neighbourhood, community or even sometimes a whole nation. The psychological aspects of ritual to which Beidelman refers remain unaddressed by the interpretation of ritual as expressive.
