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CSULB George M. Scott
Instructor: George M. Scott
ANTHROPOLOGY 414-514
THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF RELIGION
LECTURE OUTLINE
TOPIC VII
MAGIC
I. MAGIC VS. RELIGION
A. MAGIC RELIGIOUS SYSTEM
1. Two Poles on Continuum, With Intergradation Between Them.2.
"Ideal Types" (Weber) For Analyzing. In Reality, They Are
Combined.
a. Eating Wafers at Communion; BaptismMagical Actions in
Religion.b. Bomber Pilot Clutches a CrucifixReligious Symbols in
Magical Behavior.
II. CLASSIFICATIONS OF MAGIC
A. MACRO-DISTINCTION BETWEEN CAUSATIVE AND DIVINATORY
1. CausativeInfluencing Nature; Causing Events to Happen.2.
DivinatoryTo Gain Information About Events Removed in Time and
Space, Which
Can Be Acted On Later.
B. SIR JAMES FRAZER
1. Law of SympathyMystical Connection.a. HomeopathicBased on Law
of Similarity (Analogical Magic; Image Magic).b. ContagiousBased on
Law of Contact (Exuvial Magic).
2. Again, Ideal Types; Often Combined in Reality (The Most
Effective Vodun DollsContain Hair of the Target Victim; Eastern
Woodland Indians Tortured Prisoners
Because Both They Are Representatives of Their Society
[Homeopathic]and They Are Actually Parts of Their Society
[Contagious]).
C. NEGATIVE MAGIC
1. Not Doing Things For Fear of Magical Outcomes.2. Post Hoc,
Ergo Propter Hoc ("After This, Therefore Because of This").
a. "Superstitions"Sidewalk Cracks, Ladders, Salt.b. Used to be
Based on Homeopathic or Contagious Magic, But Original
Connections Are Lost.3. Freud's Concept of Neurotic
"Taboos."
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D. BLACK VS. WHITE MAGIC
1. Night vs. Day2. Causes Misfortune vs. Improves Fortune and
Beneficent.3. But, Again, This Distinction Breaks Down in
Reality.
a. "Love Magic"White, From the Point of View of the Client, But
Black, of the"Target."
b. That Is, The Client Benefits, But the Target is the Object of
Malevolent Forces.
III. THE FUNCTIONS OF MAGIC
A. MALINOWSKIINDIVIDUAL PERSPECTIVE
1. Emotional FunctionsReduces Anxiety of Individuals; Helps to
FaceDanger, Uncertainty with More Confidence.
2. Cognitive FunctionsSupplements Empirical, Practical
Procedures, e.g., WhenDroughts and Floods Occur.
B. RADCLIFFE-BROWNSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE
1. Social Functions"Strong" Magical Activities Causes Anxiety
(Correlations with Ratesof Homicide and Suicide); Instead, Fear of
Magical Techniques Results in Social
Control ("Invisible Police Force").2. Or the Ritual Activity
That Occurs with the Magical Techniques Increases Social
Solidarity.
C. BOTTOM LINEWHEN RATIONAL, TIME-PROVEN PROCEDURES FAIL AND
STRESS and ANXIETY EMERGE, THEN WE WILL DO SOMETHING
RATHER THAN NOTHING.
D. MUST BE VIEWED IN THE CONTEXT OF THE TOTAL CULTURE; MAGIC
BASED
ON CULTURAL PREMISES; THUS MUST BE DEFINED IN CULTURALTERMS.
IV. WHY DOES MAGIC PERSIST?
A. WHEN IT DOESN'T WORK (WHICH IS MOST OF THE TIME), WHY DO
PEOPLE
STILL BELIEVE IN AND USE IT?
B. ESPECIALLY IN OUR SUPER-RATIONAL-SCIENTIFIC WORLD?
1. Still Helps to Reduce Anxiety, Increase Confidence (e.g.,
Baseball Magic, Obama and
Election Magic).2. Modern Medicine Doesn't Always WorkRealm of
Psychosomatic Health and Healing
(The Desperation of the Healthy, Ageless, and Painless Body and
Mind).3. Law of ProbabilityIf Done Enough Times, Then Eventually
Will Work; Also
"Constant Reinforcement;" Once Works, Then Reinforced (One
Success Equals1000 Failures).
4. OK, So People Still Believe in Magic Because of the Above
Reasons. But How CanThey?
