Douglas, Mary (1921–2007)
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7076487 |
|---|---|
| Authors | R Reis (0000-0001-8249-0856, University of Cape Town, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Pages | 1-2 |
| Publication date | 2020-04-22 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | OTHER |
| Venue | The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/9781405165518.wbeos1570 |
| OpenAlex | W4248411182 |
| ISBN | 9781405165518 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 7 |
Mary Douglas was one of the most influential social scientists of her generation, known for her anthropology of everyday life and her sociological theory of meaning. A core motif in her work is that cognitions are anchored in the sociopolitical realities in which they are produced: the social structuring of societies and the implicit social structuring of minds stem from the same principles. In anthropology, her most influential theory concerns the body as a natural symbol and pollution ideas as protecting where ambivalences and anomalies threaten the construction. Outside of anthropology, her cultural theory was extensively applied in fields such as the sociology of organizations and technology studies. This theory relates four types of social structures deriving from combinations of two dimensions of social control (grid and group) to specific thought styles concerned with risk. Finally, her elaborate studies of the Hebrew Bible left enduring marks on biblical scholarship
Epistemology · Meaning (existential · Political science · Scholarship · Social science · Social theory · Sociology · Structuring · Anthropology · Critical Realism in Sociology · Information Systems Theories and Implementation · Law · Management Theory and Practice · Philosophy
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |