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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following relationships is unclear to Douglas?

2. According to Douglas, the absence of what pertains to the lack of system?

3. Symbolic rituals involving religious purity have been concerned with ideas of what?

4. Which item does Douglas require for success?

5. What does Douglas say primitive cultures represent more than modern cultures?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the role of men-centered religions on a culture as described by Douglas?

2. Describe purification as it relates to Sumerian civilization.

3. What were Durkheim's beliefs?

4. Why is sequentiality vital to the rituals that Douglas describes?

5. What does morality ensure, according to Douglas?

6. What is involved in the categorization that Douglas describes?

7. What does Douglas believe has led to the belief that primitive cultures are inferior?

8. How has anthropology shown the distinction between primitive and modern cultures?

9. Which cultures does Douglas describe as avoiding pollution and why?

10. What conclusions did Malinowski come to when he studied primitive cultures?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the difference between social and cosmic pollution in Purity and Danger? How do both relate to primitive and modern cultures in the reading? How do these pollutions relate to your life?

Essay Topic 2

Assess rituals in primitive culture. How would Douglas answer these questions and why: Are rituals rooted in magic? Why do you think this is so? Are anti-ritual views accurate?

Essay Topic 3

What is the contradiction in rejecting and accepting death? Is this something that takes place in modern culture? Give one example of such an event.

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