Mary Douglas

Quotations

  • “I am sure it must be true that people opt out of the mainstream society because they feel that there are going to be no rewards for them, if they stay.” -Mary Douglas

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  • “It seems true that the growth of science and secularism made organized Christianity feel under threat.” -Mary Douglas

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  • “It is only partly true that religion does more harm than good in society. The community makes God into the image it wants, vengeful, or milky sweet, or scrupulously just, and so on.” -Mary Douglas

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  • “Since 1970, relationships can be more volatile, jobs more ephemeral, geographical mobility more intensified, stability of marriage weaker.” -Mary Douglas

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  • “If people want to compete for leadership of a religious group, they can compete in piety. A chilling thought. Or funny.” -Mary Douglas

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  • “Religion can make it worse. Are you supposing that if people were encouraged to believe in a transcendent reality, and to be encouraged by grand rituals and music and preaching, to love their neighbors, then they would put jealousy and frustration aside?” -Mary Douglas

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  • “If people want to compete for leadership of a religious group, they can compete in piety. A chilling thought. Or funny.” -Mary Douglas

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  • “Inequality can have a bad downside, but equality, for its part, sure does get in the way of coordination.” -Mary Douglas

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  • “Real equality is immensely difficult to achieve, it needs continual revision and monitoring of distributions. And it does not provide buffers between members, so they are continually colliding or frustrating each other.” -Mary Douglas

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  • “If you want to change the culture, you will have to start by changing the organization.” -Mary Douglas

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  • I am convinced that living in an enclave shapes the personality, and living alone shapes the personality too. – Mary Douglas

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