ABSTRACT
The intentions, conscious or unconscious, of the performers of a rite must be carefully distinguished from the actual effects they may produce, either on the state of mind of individuals, or on the working of particular institutions. The Trobriand islanders practise love magic in the firm belief that the saying of certain words or the use of certain herbs makes a man invincibly attractive to a woman, or a woman to a man. The magic itself does not produce this effect, of course, but the fact is that lovers who believe themselves to be irresistible act in such a way that they actually prove to be so. All types of ritual can be similarly regarded as social mechanisms which produce certain results in the individual or the group, quite apart from the manifest or latent content of the performer's beliefs. It is as a social mechanism that the ritual of different cultures shows such similarities. Symbols differ widely, so do beliefs, and there is an almost bewildering variety of ceremonial sequences, but as methods of social action ritual types are not in reality very numerous, and they will be found to conform to certain general rules.
